Public Prosecutor v Yogaras Poongavanam

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Tay Yong Kwang J
• Judgment Date: 24 July 2015
• Neutral Citation: [2015] SGHC 193
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Hearing Date: 14 July 2015
• Docket Number: Criminal Case No 33 of 2015
• Plaintiff Counsel: Lin Yinbing and Lee Pei Rong Rachel (Attorney-General's Chambers)
• Defendant Counsel: Thrumurgan s/o Ramapiram, A Sangeetha (Trident Law Corporation), and Mahadevan Lukshumayeh (S T Chelvan & Company)
• Subject Matter: Criminal Law,Statutory offences,Misuse of Drugs Act
• Published date: 31 July 2015

Tay Yong Kwang J:

The accused, born on 23 May 1989, was tried and convicted on the following charge:¹

That you, YOGARAS POONGAVANAM,

on 17 April 2012, at or about 4.52p.m., at Motorcycle Arrival Booth 41 at Woodlands Checkpoint, Singapore (“the said place”), in a motorcycle bearing registration number JKP 1996, did import into the said place a controlled drug listed in Class A of the First Schedule of the Misuse of Drugs Act, to wit, three (3) packets containing 908.8 grams of granular/powdery substance, which was analyzed and found to contain not less than 36.27 grams of Diamorphine, without any authorisation under the said Act or the Regulations made thereunder, and you have thereby committed an offence under Section 7 and punishable under Section 33 of the said Act, and further upon your conviction under Section 7 of the said Act, you may alternatively be liable to be punished under Section 33B of the said Act.

At the start of the trial, the accused said he wanted to plead guilty to the charge. As is the practice, I rejected his plea as the offence is punishable with death. The Prosecution then proceeded to prove its case.

Nevertheless, the Prosecution and the Defence had already agreed on all the material facts. The Prosecution tendered a statement of agreed facts² (“SOAF”) which was to be read in conjunction with an agreed bundle.³ The agreed bundle, which included the accused’s statements and the forensic analysis reports, was thus admitted as evidence by consent.

The accused confirmed that he fully understood the SOAF and had no objection to anything in it.

The Prosecution’s case The Statement of Agreed Facts

The entire SOAF is reproduced as follows:

The Prosecution and the Defence hereby agree that:

1. The accused is Yogaras Poongavanam, FIN: XXXXXXXXX, male/26 years old (date of birth: 23 May 1989). He is a Malaysian citizen employed as a cleaner at Esplanade Theatres, Singapore. At the material time, he resided at Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

A) Circumstances leading to the accused’s arrest

2. On 17 April 2012, at about 4.52p.m., the accused rode into Woodlands Checkpoint, Motorcycle Arrival Booth 41, alone on a Malaysian registered motorcycle bearing registration number JKP 1996 (“the said motorcycle”), from Malaysia. The accused is the registered owner of the said motorcycle. 3. The accused was stopped by officers from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (“ICA”) and subsequently referred to officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (“CNB”) for checks. Officers from the CNB escorted the accused and the said motorcycle to Woodlands Arrival Car Secondary Team office carpark lot A41, where a search was conducted on the said motorcycle. 4. The officers from the CNB conducted a check on the front fender area of the said motorcycle, where they noticed that the screws on the front fender were not identical. As such, they proceeded to open up the front fender area using a screwdriver issued by CNB, in the presence of the accused. 5. In the presence of the accused, officers from the CNB found two (2) black bundles concealed in the front fender area of the said motorcycle. The two (2) black bundles were seized and marked as “A1” and “A2” respectively. 6. The exhibit marked “A1” was unwrapped and found to contain two (2) packets of granular/powdery substance. The two (2) packets of granular powdery substance were marked “A1A” and “A1B” respectively. The exhibit marked “A2” was unwrapped and found to contain one (1) packet of granular/powdery substance. The packet of granular/powdery substance was marked as “A2A”. The accused was subsequently placed under arrest.

B) Investigations conducted after the accused’s arrest

7. On 17 April 2012, at or about 6.40p.m., officers from the CNB proceeded to list down the personal effects seized from the accused in a Receipt for Articles Seized from a Person. The accused signed on the receipt to acknowledge that the items were taken over from him. 8. On 17 April 2012, at or about 8.17 p.m., officers from the Forensic Management Branch (“FMB”) of the Criminal Investigation Department took photographs of the scene at Woodlands Checkpoint, the said motorcycle and the case exhibits. 9. In addition, officers from the FMB produced a sketch plan of a scene at Woodlands Checkpoint Immigration car/motorcycle clearance building (arrival), and of a scene at Woodlands Checkpoint, Block B Customs car/motorcycle clearance building (arrival). 10. On 17 April 2012, at or about 9.05p.m., officers from the CNB seized a screwdriver from the said motorcycle, which was subsequently marked as “B1A”. 11. On 17 April 2012, at or about 10.30 p.m., officers from the CNB escorted the accused to his workplace at Esplanade Theatres, Singapore to conduct a search. 12. On 18 April 2012, at or about 12.36 a.m., the accused was examined by Dr Koh Juexi Casey of Alexandra Hospital for his pre-statement medical examination. The accused was discharged to the police stable. On 18 April 2012, at or about 5.20 a.m., the accused was again examined by Dr Koh Juexi Casey at the Alexandra Hospital for his post-statement medical examination. The accused had no complaints of pain or discomfort and was discharged to the police stable. 13. Two (2) medical reports bearing Report Nos. 2014-3818-0 and 2013-1389-0, dated on 27 October 2014 and 19 April 2013 respectively were prepared in respect of the accused’s abovementioned medical examinations.

C) Forensic Analysis

14. On 18 April 2012, the exhibits marked “A1A”, “A1B” and “A2A” were handed over to the Health Sciences Authority (“HSA”) for analysis. 15. Upon analysis of the exhibits marked “A1A”, “A1B” and “A2A”, on 12 November 2012, Lim Hui Jia Stephanie of the Illicit Drugs Laboratory of the HSA issued the following (3) certificates under Section 16 of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185, 2008 Rev Ed) (“MDA”):

a. HSA certificate bearing Lab No: ID-1232-00781-001 in respect of the exhibit marked “A1A”;

b. HSA certificate bearing Lab No: ID-1232-00781-002 in respect of the exhibit marked “A1B”; and

c. HSA certificate bearing Lab No: ID-1232-00781-003 in respect of the exhibit marked “A2A”.

16. The results of the analysis are as follows:

Exhibit	HSA Certificate No.:	Gross weight	Result
A1A	Lab No: ID-1232-00781-001	228.2g of granular/powdery substance	Not less than 8.66g of diamorphine
A1B	Lab No: ID-1232-00781-002	224.3g of granular/powdery substance	Not less than 9.46g of diamorphine
A2A	Lab No: ID-1232-00781-003	456.3g of granular/powdery substance	Not less than 18.15g of diamorphine

17. Collectively, the exhibits marked “A1A”, “A1B” and “A2A” containing 908.9g of granular/powdery substance were found to contain not less than 36.27 grams of diamorphine. Diamorphine is a controlled drug specified in Class A of the First Schedule of the Misuse of Drugs Act. 18. The accused is not authorized under the MDA or the Regulations made thereunder to import into Singapore the said drugs. 19. On 25 April 2012, at or about 12.30 p.m., the accused voluntarily provided a blood sample for the purpose of forensic DNA analysis. The accused’s blood sample was subsequently sent to HSA for DNA analysis. Upon analysis of the accused’s blood sample, on 23 August 2012, Tang Wai Man of the DNA Database Laboratory of the HSA issued one (1) certificate under Section 263 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 (Act 15 of 2010) (“CPC”), bearing Lab No: DB-2012-04831. The accused’s DNA profile is labelled as “S123875”. 20. On 23 April 2012, at about 2.41 p.m., the front fender of the said motorcycle, the screw driver marked “B1A”, the external plastic wrapping of the two black bundles “A1” and “A2”, and swabs taken from the exhibits marked “A1A”, “A1B” and “A2A”, were sent to HSA for DNA analysis. Upon analysis of these case exhibits, on 1 October 2012, Wong Hang Yee of the DNA Profiling Laboratory of the HSA issued one (1) certificate under Section 263 of the CPC, bearing Lab No: DN-1243-00713. 21. The DNA profile obtained from the exterior and tapes and plastic sheet of exhibit “A1” and also the exterior and interior of exhibit “A2” was found to a mixed DNA profile. The DNA profile belonging to the accused, S123875, can be included as a contributor of the mixed DNA profile. 22. On 30 April 2012, at about 11.25 a.m., 4 screws and 4 washers obtained from the front fender area of the said motorcycle which were collectively marked as “A-SCREWS”, and 4 screws and 3 washers obtained from the said motorcycle which were collectively marked as “SCREWS”, were sent to HSA for analysis. On 16 May 2012, the screwdriver marked “B1A” was transferred from the DNA Profiling Laboratory to the Forensic Chemistry and Physics Laboratory. Upon analysis of the abovementioned case exhibits, on 27 July 2012, Dr Alaric Koh Chin Wai of the Forensic Chemistry and Physics Laboratory of the HSA issued one (1) certificate, bearing Lab No: FC-1241-00081-A. 23. The certified true copy of the ICA record of the entry and exit movement of the accused from 1 April 2012 to 30 April 2012 was obtained. 24. The integrity and custody of all the case exhibits were not compromised in any way at any point in time.

D) Statements recorded from the accused

25. During the course of investigation, the following statements were voluntarily recorded from the accused without threat, inducement or promise:

(a) First investigation statement of the accused recorded by Assistant Superintendent of Police Tan Chor Huang Janet under Section 22 of the CPC on 20 April 2012 from 11.15 a.m. to 2.32 p.m.;

(b) Second investigation statement of the accused recorded by Assistant...