Public Prosecutor v Puspanathan a/l Supramaniam

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Gilbert Low Teik Seang
• Judgment Date: 28 April 2004
• Neutral Citation: [2004] SGMC 4
• Court: Magistrates' Court (Singapore)
• Published date: 19 May 2004
• Year: 2004
• Plaintiff Counsel: Station Inspector Wee Kim Cheock
• Defendant Counsel: Accused acting in person
• Citation: [2004] SGMC 4

28 April 2004

Magistrate Gilbert Low:

1 The accused pleaded guilty before me at first mention to the following charge:

You … are charged that you, on the 5^th of April 04, at about 10.30 pm, outside Jurong Point shopping centre, located at Jurong West Central, Singapore, which is a public place, did publicly does(sic) an obscene act, to wit, by taking out your penis from your trousers and masturbating it in the view of one [xxx] F/24 yrs, which cause annoyance to the said [xxx] and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 294(a) of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.

2 The Statement of Facts that the accused admitted to without any qualification read as:

The victim is [xxx], F/24 yrs, NRIC No. [xxx] residing at Blk [xxx] Bukit Batok East Avenue 5, #05-188.

2 The witness is [xxx], M/26 yrs, NRIC No. [xxx] residing at Blk 661B Jurong West Street [xxx] #[xxx]. He is the fiance of the complainant.

3 The accused is Puspanathan A/L Supramaniam, M/26 yrs, FIN no. G7164381L residing at C/O 101 Jalan Besar #02-36.

4 On 05 Apr 04 at about 11.04 pm, acting on information received, the accused was arrested at Jurong Point Shopping Centre for an offence of committing an obscene act in a public place.

5 On 05 Apr 04 at about 10.30 pm, victim was waiting for the witness outside the Shopping Centre to go back home. Victim spotted the accused was sitting down on the ground directly behind her. Victim had also noticed that the accused was sitting cross legged, whereby the right leg cross over the left leg. Victim noticed the accused was holding his penis with his right hand holding onto his penis moving it in an up and down motion masturbating. Victim felt insulted by the act and called the witness.

6 When the witness arrived, the accused was still sitting at the same spot. The witness then approached the accused and noticed the penis of the accused was still exposed. The accused however started to walk away but was detained by the witness.

7 In the statement to the Police, the accused admitted to the commission of the offence.

3 The accused had one antecedent which was similar which he admitted to. On 22 March 2003, he was convicted and sentenced in the same Court 23 in MAC 2214 of 2003 for a similar offence of committing an obscene act under section 294 of the Penal Code. He was given the benchmark fine of $2,000 for first-time offenders where he paid in full.

4 In mitigation, he pleaded before me to be lenient. The obscene act which he admitted to having committed, was done because he was feeling itchy.

SENTENCE

5 All considered, I imposed a sentence of $2,000 in default 1 month and 2 weeks of imprisonment on the accused, in light of his similar antecedent. The prosecution, being dissatisfied with this sentence notwithstanding that a custodial term has been imposed, has appealed against the sentence. I now set out my reasons for the sentence.

6 To put matters into perspective, it should be noted that the offence under section 294(a) of the Penal Code which the accused was charged, is less culpable than an offence of insulting the modesty of a woman under section 509 of the Penal Code. The former offence merely requires proof of commission of the obscene act in a public place whereas the latter offence requires specific proof of intent to insult the modesty of the female victim. Thus, the maximum custodial penalty for the former offence is 3 months whereas in the case of the latter offence, it is 1 year. Falling within the same vein or sub-set as section 294 of the Penal Code are the “insulting behaviour” offences, such as appearing nude, under sections 13A and 13B of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, albeit that these offences can be committed in either a public or private place and are only punishable with fines.

7 Although parts of the Statement of Facts seemed to suggest shades of a section 509 Penal Code offence vis-à-vis the...