Public Prosecutor v Muhammad Zulfadli Bin Abdul Razak
| Jurisdiction | Singapore |
| Judge | Hamidah Bte Ibrahim |
| Judgment Date | 25 May 2016 |
| Neutral Citation | [2016] SGDC 136 |
| Court | District Court (Singapore) |
| Docket Number | DAC 33616, 33618, 33627 of 2013, 345, 351, 355 of 2015 & ors |
| Year | 2016 |
| Published date | 29 May 2016 |
| Hearing Date | 28 April 2016,24 April 2016 |
| Plaintiff Counsel | Marcus Foo (DPP) |
| Defendant Counsel | Zaminder Singh Gill (M/s Hilborne Law LLC) |
| Citation | [2016] SGDC 136 |
Muhammad Zulfadli Bin Abdul Razak, male, aged 34 years, the accused person in this case, faced a total of 25 charges under the Misuse of Drugs (MDA) Act, Chapter 185. These consisted of 4 counts of possession of Class A controlled drugs for the purposes of trafficking, 3 counts of consumption of methamphetamine, a specified drug, Long Term 2 (LT2) charges, 10 counts of possession of Class A controlled drugs, 2 counts of possession of utensils for drug taking and 6 counts of failure to report for urine tests under the MDA (Approved Institutions and Treatment and Rehabilitation) Regulation 3.
The accused claimed trial to all the trafficking charges. On the first day of the trial, he decided to plead guilty and accepted the prosecution’s offer. He then pleaded guilty to 6 charges which consisted of 1 count of trafficking in a Class A controlled drug, 1 count of an LT2 consumption of a specified drug, 2 counts of possession of Class A controlled drugs and 2 charges of failing to report for urine tests. The accused admitted and consented to the remaining 19 charges to be taken into consideration (TIC) for the purpose of sentencing.
I sentenced the accused to serve a total of 7 years and 24 months imprisonment with 11 strokes of the cane. The accused is now appealing against his sentence.
The Statement of FactsThe statement of facts which the accused admitted without any qualification revealed the following material facts.
On 11 June 2013, at about 1035hrs, a party of Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers arrested the accused at a room in New Cape Inn Hotel located along No. 3 Seng Poh Road on suspicion of consuming a controlled drug and trafficking in a controlled drug.
A search was conducted in the Hotel room and the officers recovered one digital weighing scale, numerous empty packets and one yellow packet containing crystalline substance. The officers also recovered two black bundles containing vegetable matter and one packet containing crystalline substance. The accused admitted ownership of these exhibits which were seized by the officers. Together with the exhibits he was brought to Central Police Divisional Headquarters for investigation.
3The exhibits described as 2 black bundles containing vegetable matter were submitted to the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) for analysis. On 23 July 2013, Yeo Yuan Yuan Cheryl, an analyst with the Illicit Drugs Laboratory of the HSA issued 2 certificates under section 16 of the MDA. The certificates stated that exhibits were analyzed and found to contain a total of 38.68 grams of Cannabis mixture. Cannabinol and tetrahydrocannabinol (A cannabinol derivative) are Class A Controlled Drugs listed in the MDA.
The accused admitted ownership of the drugs and that the two black bundles of “Ganja” (Street name for Cannabis) which was found to contain Cannabis mixture were meant for sale to his customers. He would, upon receiving an order from his customer, repack the “Ganja” into a packet weighing about 4 gram and sell it for S$50/-. The accused had also used the digital weighing scale to weigh the “Ganja” and he would then repack the “Ganja” into the numerous empty packets based on his customer drug orders.
5The exhibits described as 2 packets containing crystalline substances were submitted to the HSA for analysis. On 23 July 2013, Yeo Yuan Yuan Cheryl, an analyst of the HSA issued certificates under section 16 of the MDA stating that these exhibits were analyzed and found to contain 0.26 grams of methamphetamine, a Class A Controlled Drug listed in the MDA.
The accused admitted ownership and possession of the said exhibits. The two packets of “ice” (Street name for methamphetamine) were meant for his personal consumption. He intended to smoke the “ice” at a later time. He bought the “ice” weighing 2.5 grams for S$300/- from a male Chinese person known to him as “Ah Leng” at the vicinity of Seng Po Road, Singapore.
14On 15 December 2012, the accused was placed under compulsory supervision for 24 months by virtue of Regulation 15 of the MDA (Approved Institutions and Treatment and Rehabilitation) Regulations (Cap 185, Reg. 3). Pursuant to the said Regulations, the accused is required to present himself for urine test at Bedok Police Divisional Headquarters on every Monday and Friday of each month, commencing on 17 December 2012 during the period of supervision that is from 15 December 2012 to 14 December 2014.
The accused failed to report for his urine test at Bedok Police Divisional Headquarters since December 2013, without valid reasons or medical certificate. He did not turn up for the said tests as he was consuming controlled drugs at the material time. The accused contravened the said Regulations when he failed to present himself for urine tests on 10 June 2013 (Monday) and on the 12 December 2014 (Friday) at Bedok Police Divisional Headquarters without any valid reasons
15On 2 February 2015, at about 1555hrs, a party of CNB officers arrested the accused at 94 Ceylon Road #05-04 Ceylon Point vide Police Gazette. In the accused person’s presence, a search was conducted in the unit and 14 packets and one straw containing crystalline substance were recovered.
The accused admitted ownership of the above exhibits which were seized. Together with the exhibits, he was later brought to Central Police Divisional Headquarters for investigation. The exhibits were submitted to the HSA for analysis. On 3 March 2015, Goh Jia Hui, an analyst with the HSA issued certificates under section 16 of the MDA, stating that these exhibits were analyzed and found to contain a total of 3.84 grams of methamphetamine. Methamphetamine is a Class A Controlled Drug in the MDA.
The accused admitted ownership and possession of the said exhibits. The 14 packets and one straw of “ice” (Street name for methamphetamine) were meant for his personal consumption. The accused revealed that he had bought “ice” weighing 6.25 grams for S$350/- from a male Chinese person known to him as “Ah Seng”.
21Following his arrest, at Central Police Divisional Headquarters office the accused provided two bottles of his urine samples. These samples were submitted to the HSA to be analyzed.
The HSA subsequently issued two Certificates under section 16 of the MDA on 25 February 2015 and 16 February 2015 respectively. The first certificate by Ng Chee Ann, an analyst with the HSA, having conduct of the analysis in relation to the urine sample stated that on analysis, the said urine sample was found to contain methamphetamine. Chang Hian Twan, another analyst having conduct of the analysis in relation to the second urine sample stated that on analysis, the said urine sample was found to contain methamphetamine. Methamphetamine is a Specified Drug in the MDA.
Prior to the commission of this offence, the accused person was convicted on 5 October 2009 in the District Court 20 (DAC42434/2009), for an offence of consumption of methamphetamine, a Specified Drug under section 8(b)(ii) punishable under section 33A(1) of the MDA and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and 3 strokes of the cane. The accused is thereby liable for enhanced punishment under section 33A(2) of the MDA.
Before his arrest, the accused had smoked “ice” by using an improvised instrument. . The accused further admitted that he had relapsed to smoking “ice” for about a year. The accused revealed that he would smoke about 0.2g of “ice” everyday
The AntecedentsThe prosecution disclosed that the accused had prior convictions under the MDA which began in 2000. They are as follows:
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