Public Prosecutor v Stephen Beh Yong Ter

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Roy Grenville Neighbour
• Judgment Date: 11 July 2012
• Neutral Citation: [2012] SGDC 256
• Hearing Date: 28 March 2012,14 March 2012,17 February 2012,29 May 2012,27 April 2012,05 June 2012,13 June 2012,10 April 2012
• Citation: [2012] SGDC 256
• Year: 2012
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Docket Number: DAC No. 31381 of 2011 & Ors
• Plaintiff Counsel: Yau Pui Man, Deputy Public Prosecutor,Paul, S K Kumar Law Practice LLP, Counsel
• Published date: 17 July 2012

District Judge Roy Grenville Neighbour:

This is an appeal by the Public Prosecutor against the sentence of imprisonment imposed on the respondent.

The charges

The respondent stood charged for 14 offences. They are 10 charges of Cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code, 2 charges of Criminal Breach of Trust (“CBT”) under Section 406 of the Penal Code, 1 charge under Section 13(2)(a) of the National Registration Act (“NRA”) and 1 charge of Consumption of a specified drug under Section 8(b)(ii) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (“MDA”).

At the commencement of the hearing, the respondent pleaded guilty to 6 charges, namely 4 charges of cheating, 1 charge of parting of possession of his Singapore Identity Card under the NRA and 1 charge of consumption of a specified drug. Upon conviction, the respondent consented to the remaining 8 charges being taken into consideration in sentencing. The respondent was sentenced to serve a total term of 24 months’ imprisonment.

The brief facts

In respect of the 4 proceeded cheating charges, the facts are that between 30 Dec ’09 and Nov ’10, the respondent had on one occasion taken a sum of $1400 from a victim by deceiving the victim into believing that he was an employment agent capable of offering jobs and Singapore work permits to the victim’s friends in China. On the other three occasions during the same period, he deceived the victims into believing that he was in the business of selling the Apple IPhone 4 mobile phone and collected a sum of $3,000/- from each of the victims. In total, the respondent obtained $10,400/-. To date he has made restitution of $1500/-.

In respect of the charge under the NRA, the respondent parted with possession of his Singapore National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) to the victim who had handed him a sum of $300 as a deposit for the purchase of 3 Apple IPhones. In respect of the consumption of a specified drug, his urine’s sample was found to contain methamphetamine which drug he consumed on 2 Aug ’11 with a female friend at a hotel at Thomson Road.

The Prosecution’s submission on sentence

The prosecution argued that the court consider a sentence of Corrective Training for the respondent given his string of previous convictions since 2001 for cheating and criminal breach of trust. His last conviction for cheating and criminal breach of trust was in 2006. Addressing the Court on the respondent’s metal state, Institute of Mental Health (IMH) Dr. Jaydip Sarkar’s psychiatric report on the respondent stated that the respondent is fit to plead and that he knows what he did was wrong morally and legally. Dr. Sarkar opined that the respondent does not suffer from any serious mental illness such as psychosis of any kind. According to Dr. Sarkar, the past and present offences seem to be committed in the context of stress, namely emotional and financial and appear to represent giving in to internal urges and impulses to cheat and engage in fraudulent activity. The cheating attempts are sophisticated and on occasion involve the capacity to repeatedly deceive people and making money that he appears to have spent. According to Dr. Sarkar, this is unlike the actions of a man driven by psychotic experiences where behaviour is grossly...