Public Prosecutor v Yew Kin Wah

• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Judge: Lee-Khoo Poh Choo
• Judgment Date: 14 January 2009
• Neutral Citation: [2009] SGDC 19
• Citation: [2009] SGDC 19
• Published date: 02 February 2009
• Plaintiff Counsel: ASP Zainal Abidin & Gurmit Singh
• Defendant Counsel: Laurence Goh of Laurence Goh Eng Yau

14 Jan 2009

District Judge Lee Poh Choo

The charge and the appeal

1. This Judgement arose from the appeal by the accused against sentence.

2. The accused pleaded guilty to the following 8 charges :

(a) DAC 42700 of 2008 – theft under section 379 of the Penal Code of a handbag containing one China passport, one China identity card, one airline ticket, cash of S$360, cash of US$1/-, cash of RMB40 and a Nokia handphone valued at $150/- from Lu Yuhua, a female from the Peoples’ Republic of China (“PRC”). The theft was committed at about 5 a.m. on 9 September 2008.

(b) DAC 43839 of 2008 – theft under section 379 of the Penal Code of a handbag containing one Special Pass issued by the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority, one China bank card, cash of S$600/- and a handphone from Wu Gurong, a PRC female. The theft was committed at about 5.30 a.m. on 4 September 2008.

(c) DAC 48869 of 2008 and DAC 48870 of 2008 – driving motor vehicle SDS7569K on 9 and 4 September 2008 while under disqualification from holding or obtaining a driving license from all classes of vehicles, being an offence punishable under section 3(2) of the Motor Vehicles (Third-Party Risks & Compensation) Act, Cap 189.

(d) DAC 48873 of 2008 and DAC 48874 of 2008 – driving motor vehicle SDS7568K on 9 and 4 September 2008 when there was no policy of insurance in respect of third party risks, being an offence punishable under section 3(2) of the Motor vehicles (Third-Party Risks & Compensation) Act, Cap 189.

(e) DAC 44661 of 2008 and DAC 44662 of 2008 – possessing uncustomed goods, i.e. 1 packet x 16 sticks and 1 packet x 8 sticks cigarettes on which excise duty of $16.89 and goods and services tax of $1.23 were unpaid, being offences punishable under section 128L(2) of the Customs Act. The offences were committed on 18 September 2008.

The accused further consented to the following 6 charges being taken into consideration for purposes of sentencing:

(i) DAC 43840 of 2008 an DAC 43841 of 2008 – theft under section 379 of the Penal Code of handbags and the contents which included passports, handphone and bank card from 2 PRC females. The offences were committed at about 5.30 a.m. on 9 August 2008 and at about 7 a.m. on 22 July 2008.

(ii) DAC 48871 of 2008 and DAC 48872 of 2008 – driving motor vehicle SDS7568K on 9 August 2008 and 22 July 2008 while under disqualification, being offences similar to those in paragraph 2(c) above.

(iii) DAC 48875 of 2008 and DAC 48876 of 2008 – driving vehicle SDS7568K on 9 August 2008 and 22 July 2008 when there was no policy of insurance in respect of third-party risks, being offences similar to those in paragraph 2(d) above.

Facts relating to DAC 42700 of 2008

3. On 9 September 2008, at about 4 a.m., the victim Lu Yuhua was at Lorong 27 Geylang when the accused approached her. They agreed to have sex for a fee. The accused then took Lu Yuhua in his car SDS7568K to an open car park at Geylang East Industrial Estate where they had sex outside the car. Lu Yuhua had left her handbag with the contents in the accused’s car. After they had sex, at about 5 a.m., the accused drove off with the handbag and its contents, leaving Lu Yuhua behind.

Facts relating to DAC43839 of 2008

4. The facts were strikingly similar to the facts in DAC 42700 of 2008.

5. On 4 September 2008, at about 5 a.m., Wu Gurong was at Lorong 33 Geylang when the accused approached her and they agreed to have sex for a fee. The accused then took Wu Gurong in his vehicle SDS7568K to an open car park at Aljunied Industrial Estate where they had sex outside the car. Wu Gurong left her handbag and its contents inside the vehicle. After they had sex, the accused drove off with the handbag and its contents, leaving Wu Gurong behind.

Facts relating to DAC 48869, 48870, 48873 and 48874 of 2008

6. The Licensing Officer of the Traffic Police confirmed that the accused had been disqualified from holding or obtaining a driving license for all classes of vehicles for a period of 18 months from 24 October 2007. Hence, when the accused drove the vehicle SDS7568K on 4th and 9th September 2008, he did not have a driving license. As a consequence, there was no insurance coverage in respect of third party risks.

Facts relating to DAC 44661 and 44662 of 2008

7. On 18 September 2008, at about 12 p.m., the accused was checked by police officers at the Bedok North NPC. He was found to be in possession of 1 packet x 16 sticks and 1 packet x 8 sticks of Gudang Garam Surya Kretek duty unpaid cigarettes. The accused had bought these cigarettes from an unknown male Bangladeshi peddler at the vicinity of Lorong 14 Geylang. The accused was aware that excise duty as well as goods and services tax (GST) were not paid. The total weight of the cigarettes was 0.048 kg, the excise duty payable was $16.89 and the GST payable was $1.23.

Conviction and Antecedents

8. The accused admitted to the facts without any qualification. I therefore found him guilty of the charges and convicted him accordingly.

The accused admitted to the following antecedents:

(a) 4.9.2001 - Voluntarily causing hurt under section 323 Penal Code, Cap 224. ...