Public Prosecutor v Muhammad Syahmi Bin Mohd Johan

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Lorraine Ho
• Judgment Date: 17 December 2020
• Neutral Citation: [2020] SGDC 287
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: District Court Case No. DAC-912823-2020 & 6 Ors, Magistrate’s Appeals No. MA-9860-2020-01
• Published date: 25 December 2020
• Year: 2020
• Hearing Date: 29 September 2020,30 October 2020,16 October 2020,31 August 2020,07 September 2020
• Plaintiff Counsel: Eugene Chua (Attorney-General's Chambers)
• Defendant Counsel: Mohammad Hasif Bin Abdul aziz (Abdul Rahman Law Corporation)
• Subject Matter: Criminal Procedure and Sentencing,Sentencing,Road Traffic,Offences,Driving whilst under a disqualification order,Affixing a plate to a vehicle for which it was not issued
• Citation: [2020] SGDC 287

District Judge Lorraine Ho: Introduction

The accused, a 21-year-old Singaporean male, had pleaded guilty before me on 9 October 2019 for driving without a licence and using a vehicle without insurance coverage. I convicted and sentenced him to a fine of $600 for each offence and disqualified him from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences (“DQAC”) for the mandatory minimum period of 12 months on the same day. At that time, he was 19 years old.

Unfortunately, slightly more than 3 months later, he reoffended on 13 January 2020. This time, he not only committed more offences, they were more egregious. On 15 July 2020, the accused, then 20 years of age, was charged with the following seven offences:

Charge No.	Offence	Prosecution’s Plead Guilty (PG) Offer
DAC-912823-2020 1st Charge	S 43(4)(a) Road Traffic Act (Cap 276, Rev Ed 2004) (“RTA”) [Driving whilst under a DQ order]	Proceed
DAC-912825-2020 3rd Charge	S 129(2)(e) p/u S 129(2)(iii) RTA [Affixing to a vehicle an unissued plate]	Proceed
DAC-912827-2020 5th Charge	S 127(5) p/u S 131(2)(a) RTA [Failing to stop a vehicle when required by a police officer in uniform]	Proceed
DAC-912829-2020 7th Charge	S 120(4) p/u S 131(2)(a) RTA [Failing to conform to red light signal]	Process
DAC-912824-2020 2nd Charge	S 3(1)(a) Motor Vehicles (Third-Party Risks and Compensation) Act (Cap 189, Rev Ed 2000) p/u Section 3(2) Motor Vehicles (Third-Party Risks and Compensation) Act (Cap 189, Rev Ed 2000) p/u Section 3(3) Motor Vehicles (Third-Party Risks and Compensation) Act (Cap 189, Rev Ed 2000) (“MVA”) [Using a vehicle without insurance coverage]	Taken Into Consideration (TIC)
DAC-912826-2020 4th Charge	S 74(3) p/u S 131(2)(a) RTA [Using unapproved protective helmet]	TIC
DAC-912828-2020 6th Charge	S 12(1)(a) p/u S 131(2)(a) RTA [Using vehicle without valid road tax]	TIC

On 31 August 2020, the accused accepted the Prosecution’s offer and pleaded guilty before me to the four proceeded charges with the remaining three charges being taken into consideration for the purpose of sentencing.

Thereafter on 16 October 2020, the accused, who was still then 20 years old, was sentenced as follows:

Charge No.	Offence	Sentence
DAC-912823-2020 1st Charge	S 43(4) RTA	To undergo reformative training for a minimum of 6 months detention in a reformative training centre with effect from 30 October 2020.
DAC-912825-2020 3rd Charge	S 129(2)(e) p/u S 129(2)(iii) RTA
DAC-912827-2020 5th Charge	S 127(5) p/u S 131(2)(a) RTA
DAC-912829-2020 7th Charge	S 120(4) p/u S 131(2)(a) RTA
DAC-912823-2020 1st Charge	S 43(4) RTA	Disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for a period of 25 months with effect from 16 October 2020
Total Sentence	To undergo reformative training for a minimum of 6 months detention in a reformative training centre with effect from 30 October 2020. Disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for a period of 25 months with effect from 16 October 2020.

On 28 October 2020, the accused filed a Notice of Appeal because he was dissatisfied with the sentence imposed on him.

On 30 October 2020, I granted a stay of execution on both the reformative training and the disqualification order pending the appeal with bail extended.

Background facts The Charges

The four proceeded charges read as follows:

Charge No.	Description of the Charge
DAC-912823-2020 1st Charge	You, are charged that on the 13th January 2020, at about 3.50 pm., along Choa Chu Kang Grove, Singapore, did ride motor cycle JPL5935 when you were disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for a period of twelve (12) months from 09 October 2019 to 08 October 2020 by virtue of a conviction in State Court No. 21, Singapore on 9 October 2019, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 43(4)(a), of the Road Traffic Act (Chapter 276 Revised Edition).
DAC-912825-2020 3rd Charge	You are charged that on or before 13 January 2020, in Singapore, did affix to a motor vehicle, to wit, a motorcycle bearing registration number JPL5935, a plate required to be carried on the said vehicle, for which it was not issued, to wit, a plate bearing registration number FX2356M, in contravention of Section 129(2)(e) of the Road Traffic Act, Chapter 276 and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 129(2)(iii) of the said Act.
DAC-912827-2020 5th Charge	You are charged that on 13th January 2020, at about 3.50 pm., along Choa Chu Kang Grove, Singapore, whilst riding motor cycle JPL5935, did fail to stop your vehicle when ordered to do so by a police officer in uniform, and you have thereby committed an offence under Section 127(5) of the Road Traffic Act, Chapter 276, and punishable under Section 131(2)(a) of the same Act.
DAC-912829-2020 7th Charge	You are charged that on the 13th January 2020, at about 3.50 pm, along Choa Chu Kang Grove, Singapore, whilst riding motorcycle JPL5935, did fail to conform to the traffic red light signal and you have thereby committed an offence under Section 120(4) of the Road Traffic Act, Chapter 276 and punishable under Section 131(2)(a) of the same Act.

Statement of facts

The accused admitted to the Statement of Facts (“SOF”) dated 22 August 2020 without qualification. A concise, succinct and edited version of the SOF depicting the offences of the four proceeded charges reads as follows: … 4 On 9 October 2019, the accused was convicted and sentenced in State Court No. 21 before the learned District Judge Lorraine Ho to a fine of $1,200 (in default six (6) days’ imprisonment) and disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for a period of twelve (12) months with effect from 9 October 2019…. 5 At the material time, the accused was the rider of motorcycle, ‘JPL5935’, bearing a number plate bearing registration number ‘FX2356M’ for which it was not issued. 6 On 13 January 2020, at about 3.50 p.m., the First Complainant was travelling along Choa Chua Kang Grove towards Bricklane Road near ITE West on the left of 2 lanes. The First Complainant spotted the accused in motorcycle ‘FX2356M’ ahead of him on the same lane, stationary. Upon nearing the accused, the First Complainant saw that the accused was wearing a helmet fitted with an unapproved visor. With his blinker and siren on, the First Complainant instructed the accused to stop. Upon seeing the First Complainant, the accused did not stop and in fact rode off. The accused picked up speed. 7 The accused was travelling on the extreme right of 2 lanes along Choa Chu Kang Grove towards Bricklane Road. As he was entering the roadblock point which was setup, the Second Complainant who was the “stopper” at the road block point made eye contact and signalled for the accused to stop. The Second Complainant also blew his whistle. Despite seeing the signals from the Second Complainant, who was a police officer in uniform, the accused failed to stop his vehicle when ordered to do so. Instead, the accused proceeded to evade the road block, causing the Second Complainant to jump to the right to avoid a collision with the accused’s motorcycle. 8 After evading the road block, the accused was still travelling on the same lane along Choa Chua Kang Grove towards Bricklane Road. As the accused was entering the signalised traffic junction of Choa Chu Kang Avenue 7, the traffic light signalled red for the accused to stop. However, the accused failed to conform to the traffic red light signal and proceeded to enter the junction on motorcycle JPL5935. 9 The accused was eventually stopped along Choa Chu Kang Grove slip road into Brickland Road towards Bukit Batok Road. 10 At all material times, the accused was aware that he was under disqualification, as highlighted at paragraph 4 above, and was not supposed to be riding any vehicle. …. 12 On 13 January 2020, LTA officers who came to the scene to assist in vehicle screening confirmed that chassis number is invalid. Further vehicle chassis screenings confirmed that the vehicle which the accused was riding at the material time is a Malaysian registered motorcycle, bearing vehicle number ‘JPL5935’. 13 Sometime in or before November 2019, the accused asked his friend who he knew as ‘Sin’ to source for a motorcycle for him. His friend ‘Sin’ gave him the contact number for an unknown Malaysian mechanic. The said mechanic told the accused that the cost of the motorcycle was S$1,000. The accused and the said mechanic arranged a date for the handover of the motorcycle and payment of S$1,000. 14 On the day in question, the accused met the said mechanic. The said mechanic rode the said motorcycle, bearing a number plate ‘JPL5935’ to him. On handing over S$1,000 to the said mechanic, the said mechanic handed the ignition key to him. 15 The accused rode the motorcycle back home. At home, he immediately removed both the front and rear Malaysian vehicle number plates. The accused replaced the rear vehicle number plate with a new number plate which he had made bearing registration number ‘TLH369’. At this time, there was no front number plate. 16 Sometime in December 2019, the accused decided to duplicate a friend’s vehicle number plate with registration number FX2356M, as his friend who he knew as ‘Shanks’ was also riding a similar Kawasaki KR motorcycle. The accused proceeded to affix to motor vehicle JLP5935, a plate for which it was not issued, i.e, a plate bearing registration number FX2356M. …

Antecedents

As mentioned earlier, despite his youth, he was traced for two previous traffic...