Public Prosecutor v Muhamad bin Mohamad Ishak

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Roy Grenville Neighbour
• Judgment Date: 30 July 2004
• Neutral Citation: [2004] SGDC 216
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Year: 2004
• Published date: 12 October 2004
• Plaintiff Counsel: Mr Dhillon (Dhillon Dendroff and Partners)
• Defendant Counsel: Ms Woo Ka Wai (Deputy Public Prosecutor)
• Citation: [2004] SGDC 216

30 July 2004 Judgment reserved.

District Judge Roy Grenville Neighbour:

1. On 12 January 2004, the accused claimed trial to the following charges namely;

DAC 31741/03

“You,

MUHAMAD BIN MOHAMED ISHAK, M/37 years

NRIC NO: S1769519C

are charged that you, on the 30^th day of June 2003, in Singapore, did abet one Hamli bin Mohd Salleh, NRIC No: S1690421Z to import into Singapore a controlled drug as specified in Class A of the First Schedule to the Misuse of Drugs Act (the ‘Act’), Chapter 185, to wit, by instigating the said Hamli bin Mohd Salleh to bring three paper wrappings containing 5.64 grams of fragmented vegetable matter, which was analysed and found to contain tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinol, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia into Singapore, without authorisation under the Act or Regulations thereunder, and you have thereby committed an offence under section 7 read with section 12 of the Act and punishable under section 33 of the Act.”

And

DAC 38626/03

“You,

MUHAMAD BIN MOHAMED ISHAK, M/37 years

NRIC: S1769519C

are charged that you, on or about the 1^st day of July 2003, in Singapore, did consume a controlled drug specified in Class A of the First Schedule to the Misuse of Drugs Act, Cap 185, to wit, 11-Nor-delta-9-tetrahydocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid, without authorisation under the said Act or the Regulations made thereunder, you have thereby committed an offence under Section 8(b)(i) and punishable under Section 33 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, Cap 185.

At the conclusion of the whole case, the accused was found guilty and convicted on both charges. Dissatisfied with the conviction on both the charges, the accused has appealed. On 12 May ’04, the court issued a warrant for the arrest of the accused who failed to present himself at the hearing for mitigation and sentence. The accused is still at large.

The Facts

1. The prosecution adduced evidence that on 2 July ’03, acting on information received that there was drug activity in room numbers 408 & 407 Strand Hotel, ASP Hamzah bin Mohd Yusop from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) led a party of narcotics officers to the said hotel at Bencoolen Street. The group of officers that ASP Hamzah led comprised among others, SI Patrick Thng Joo Seng, S/Sgt Mohd Raziff bin Mohd Yusof, S/Sgt Lau Keng Wah, S/Sgt Joe Chew Swee Long, ASP Helen Cheng Wai Ling, W/Sgt Noranisah binte Kutip, SI wan Othman, W/ASP Cindy Goh, SI Mohd Juahir Ismail, W/Sgt Khoo Feng Yen and W/Sgt Lim Siok Hoon.

2. According to ASP Hamzah, it was a routine case. At about 12.01 a.m. upon their arrival at the reception desk of the hotel, ASP Hamzah secured the master card keys to room numbers 407 & 408. At about 12.15 a.m. when ASP Hamzah opened Room 407, the party of narcotics officers rushed into the room and effected the arrest of one Hamli bin Mohd Salleh and a female person whose identity was ascertained to be one Olesya Uylgina, an Uzbekistan national. Thereafter, ASP Hamzah proceeded to room 408 and upon opening it another party of narcotics officers rushed into the room and arrested the accused and another female person whose identity was ascertained to be one Nargiza Abdurakhmanova. When narcotics officers searched the two rooms for controlled drugs, Hamli, in Room 407, surrendered to SI Wan Othman a small white packet containing greenish vegetable matter suspected to be controlled drugs. Nothing incriminating was found in Room 408. In the search of room 408 a car key was found. The car key belonged to the accused’s car, a blue BMW bearing registration number SDK 6962 D.

Subsequently, ASP Hamzah was informed by his officers that the accused wanted to surrender 2 packets of marijuana that were in his car However, before proceeding to the accused’s car, ASP Hamzah decided to interview the accused.

At about 1.40 a.m ASP Hamzah proceeded to interview the accused. The accused volunteered a statement (P11) in English. As the defence objected to the admissibility of the statement, a trial-within-a-trial was helf to determine whether the accused voluntarily made the statement. ASP Hamzah stated that before he commenced the recording of the statement., he asked the accused in what language he wished to speak. The accused said he wished to speak in English. Thereupon, ASP Hamzah began to record a statement, which proceeded by ASP Hamza asking the accused a question and the accused volunteering an answer. ASP Hamzah recorded down both his questions and the accused’s answers. ASP Hamzah testified that he offered no inducement, threat or promise to the accused before or during the recording of the statement. Before the accused signed the statement, ASP Hamzah said he read it back to the accused. When the accused was invited to make any amendments, additions or deletions to his statement, he declined to do so. The accused affirmed the statement to be true and correct by signing below the statement.

Trial-within-a-trial

3. The defence objected to an application by the prosecution to admit the accused’s statement to ASP Hamzah under section 24 of the Evidence Act on the grounds that prior to the recording of the statement SI Patrick Thng, Sgt Raziff, Sgt Lau had threatened, humiliated and oppressed him. A trial-within-a-trial then commenced to determine the voluntariness of the statement.

In challenging the voluntariness of the statement, the accused, stated that prior to the recording of the statement, on 1 July ’03, Hamli, whom he knew since the age of 10 and whose sister is married to the accused’s brother, came to Singapore to meet him. According to the accused he felt obliged not to disappoint Hamli because he was a very important person in his company structure. That day, despite being very tired, he and his staff Bani picked Hamli up from the airport. Thereafter, the 3 of them proceeded to a lounge in the precints of Paramount hotel. After that they proceeded to Eunos Crescent for dinner. After having dinner, they dropped Bani home at Eunos.

4. That evening, the accused at Hamli’s insistence went to Ipanema club at Orchard Towers. They were supposed to meet one Nordin there. They did not meet Nordin there. Instead they met two women and the foursome proceeded to Strand Hotel where they women stayed. The accused said that he could not control his emotions that night. Hamli had given him a cigarette whilst in the car before proceeding to Ipanema club and he had taken a few puffs from it. After that he felt funny and strange. Everything was happening in slow motion. However, he could see clearly and knew where he was going and what he was doing. He said that he was happy beyond belief and even recalled being pulled into room 408 by Narghiza, his female companion. In the room Narghiza teased him because of the condition he was in. Whilst in the room with Narghiza, they were interrupted by a few phone calls and a visit by Hamli and Hamli’s female companion. For a while the 2 women spoke to each other. Subsequently, Hamli and his companion left them. The accused then received a telephone call from Nordin inquiring where he was. He also heard Narghiza in the toilet speaking to someone on the phone. After Narghiza had come out of the toilet and whilst he was lying on the bed, feeling a little dazed, the phone rang twice. However, before he could answer it rang off. Then he heard a knock on the door. His female companion went to answer it. He heard the door being pushed loudly and the word “Police” was shouted loudly. Looking very fierce and aggressive, he saw SI Patrick Thng charging at him. Sgt Raziff followed him. Sgt Raziff held a video camera with him and was focussing it on him. Other officers namely, S/Sgt Lau , S/Sgt Joe Chew and some female persons also rushed into the room. SI Patrick Thng looked at him and pointing his finger, said “handcuff him and arrest him”. The accused was shocked and surprised, not knowing what was happening. Thereupon, Sgt Joe Chew handcuffed him with his hands behind his back. He was seated on the bed facing the direction of the window. It was chaotic in the room. When the accused heard the word “police” and saw a video camera, he thought the officers were from the anti-vice squad. The accused said he was deeply embarrassed and humiliated for being in a hotel room with another woman who was not his wife even though the both of them were fully clothed at the time. He thought that he was unlucky for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. He said he bowed his head to avoid being filmed by Sgt Raziff. He was worried that his marriage would be ruined and had disgraced his aged father and the Muslim community. When he asked why he was being filmed he received no reply from the officers. He said that when SI Patrick Thng asked him for his name he said in Malay “Boss, I do not know this woman”. SI Patrick Thng then pulled a chair up to him. Sgt Raziff, Sgt Lau and Sgt Joe Chew were standing near him on his right. His female companion was seated at the dressing table. He saw Sgt Raziff filming her too. SI Patrick Thng then scolded him saying “I spoke to you in English, why do you speak to me in Malay?” He then gave his name. SI Patrick also asked him in an authoritative manner whether the items on the nearby coffee table belonged to him. However, before he could answer SI Patrick Thng took his hand phone and began scrolling the telephone numbers stored in the phone’s memory checking who had telephoned him. When SI Patrick came across Nordin’s name and telephone number he asked whether Nordin was going to join him. The accused said “No”. When asked further where they were to meet the accused said that they were to meet at Ipanema at Orchard Towers. The accused said he was surprised when SI Patrick Thng knew much about his personal life namely, that he had a wife residing in Tampines and that he had another woman whom was also his wife, living in Pasir Ris. He was afraid that SI Patrick Thng would show his wife the video. He also feared that ISD officers...