Public Prosecutor v Peter Elangovan s/o Adaikkalasamy

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Soh Tze Bian
• Judgment Date: 07 October 2009
• Neutral Citation: [2009] SGDC 370
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Year: 2009
• Citation: [2009] SGDC 370
• Plaintiff Counsel: Inspector Sheik Allaudeen
• Defendant Counsel: Accused-in-person
• Published date: 15 October 2009

7 October 2009

District Judge Soh Tze Bian:

The Charge and Sentence

1. This is an appeal against sentence filed by the Public Prosecutor on 6 October 2009. The accused pleaded guilty before me to a charge in DAC 29981/2009 where the accused, on 28 May 2009, at or about 2.00 p.m., at the void deck of Block 390 Yishun Avenue 6, Singapore, did voluntarily cause hurt to one Nur Muhammad Zulkarnain Bin Zulkifli, by means of fire, to wit, by burning the left arm of the said Nur Muhammad Zulkarnain Bin Zulkifli with a naked light of a lighter. This was an offence punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224 with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 7 years, or with fine, or with caning, or with any combination of such punishments.

2. I sentenced the accused to 11 months’ imprisonment with effect from 19 August 2009. He is presently serving sentence at Changi Prison (Cluster B) and his tentative date of release is 30 March 2010.

Statement of Facts

3. The statement of facts as admitted by the accused without qualification stated as follows:

“1 Complainant is one Zalina Bte Junos, Female/Malay 35 yrs old.

2 Victim is one Nur Muhamad Zulkarnain Bin Zulkili, Male/Malay 11 yrs old.

3 Accused is one Peter Elangovan S/O Adaikklasamy, Male/Indian, 43 yrs old.

4 On 28/05/2009 at about 2.20pm, complainant called for police stating "An Indian guy used lighter to burn my son's hand. I don't know whether he need ambulance or not. The guy is staying at the 11th floor. Location of incident is at void deck of Blk 390 Yishun Avenue 6.

5 Investigation revealed that on 28/05/2009 at about 1.35pm, the victim was drinking at the void deck's stone table of Blk 390 Yishun Avenue 6.

6 On the same day at about 2.pm, accused approached victim and started scolding him for no reason. Accused also told the victim that he will hit him. The accused took away the victim's can of drink and threw it away.

7 Subsequently, the accused grabbed hold of the victim's left hand and took out a lighter from his pants left pocket. The accused then lighted the lighter and burnt the left arm of the victim with the naked light from the lighter. Thereafter, accused used the heated tip of the lighter to press against the victim's arm. He then let go of the victim and left the location.

8 The medical report from Dr Juliana Latip of Yishun Polyclinic on the victim stated that there was tenderness over the lateral aspect of victim's left arm with a surface area of 3cm by 3cm. There was no visible erythema or swelling of the skin. No other injuries were noted.

9 The accused on 28th May 2009 at or about 2.00pm at the void deck of Blk 390 Yishun Avenue 6, Singapore did voluntarily cause hurt to one Nur Muhamad Zulkarnain Bin Zulkifli, by means of fire, to wit, by burning the left arm of the said Nur Muhamad Zulkanain Bin Zulkifli with a naked light of a lighter, and he has thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code, Chapter 323.” (emphasis mine)

Antecedents

4. The accused had 5 theft and property-related antecedents committed in 2007; 1 antecedent of doing an obscene act in a public place committed in 2009; and 3 antecedents of “drunkenness in public places” committed in 2008 and 2009. He had only one similar antecedent as follows :

Date of sentence	Offence	Punishment
19/07/2004	Voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous weapon or; means (s.324)	10 months’ imprisonment

Mitigation

5. The accused who was unrepresented stated in his mitigation that he admitted and regretted what he had done. He really did not know what caused him to behave like this. He really felt sorry and promised that he would not repeat the same mistake. As he has no family members, he felt very lonely and mentally tortured and became an alcoholic. He is seeking treatment at the Institute of Mental Health for alcoholism. He also has urine problems due to an accident and has three major stomach operations due to liver problems. He works as a cook in NOL and is staying with his god-mother whom he missed while in remand. He had apologised to the victim, He urged to court to give him a last warning, show him mercy and impose a light lenient sentence.

Prosecution’s submission on sentence

6. The prosecution did not make any submission on sentence and left it to the Court’s discretion.

Sentencing principles and considerations

7. In arriving at the sentence for the section 324 offence, I took into account the following extract from the commentary in the Second Edition of the Practitioners’ Library, Sentencing Practice in the Subordinate Courts, LexisNexis and the Subordinate Courts, Singapore, 2003, which states at page 150 as follows:

“This is an aggravated form of the offence of simple hurt because it involves the use of weapons or other wicked means. The factors which would influence the sentencing disposition and length of sentence would be similar to the offence of hurt simpliciter except that the court have to throw in the balance the very significant factor of the use of the weapon or heated substance, etc. As regards the weapon or the other means, the court would note in particular its nature and the degree of premeditation involved in procuring it.

Absent exceptional circumstances, imprisonment appears to be the norm. The actual length of the sentence would turn very much on its own unique set of circumstances. The obvious aggravating factors would be premeditation, the use of a deadly weapon, or wicked means like fire, corrosive substance or poison, and previous convictions.” (emphasis mine)

8. I also found the checklist of factors affecting sentence (as listed in the Sentencing Practice in the Subordinate Courts at pages 127 and 150) instructive. The factors include: (i) serious injuries; (ii) group action; (iii) premeditated; (iv)weapon used; (v) vulnerable victim; (vi) offender in position of authority; (vii) racial motivation; (viii) prior record of violence; (ix) provocation; (x) acted on impulse; (xi) slight/superficial injuries. (emphasis mine)

9. In his mitigation, the accused admitted and regretted what he had done and stated that he had apologised to the victim. I noted that the accused had indicated as soon as he was arrested for police investigations into this offence that he wanted to enter a guilty plea to the charge which, in my view, was a manifestation of his very intense remorse and total utter regret over the current offence, and thereby saved precious time and invaluable resources all round. Based on these aforesaid facts and a holistic assessment of the totality of...