Public Prosecutor v Yong Vui Kong

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Choo Han Teck J
• Judgment Date: 07 January 2009
• Neutral Citation: [2009] SGHC 4
• Subject Matter: Criminal Law,Misuse of Drugs Act,Statutory offences
• Date: 2009
• Published date: 08 January 2009
• Defendant Counsel: Kelvin Lim (Kelvin Lim & Partners) and Jason Dendroff (J P Dendroff & Co)
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Plaintiff Counsel: Peter Koy and Stella Tan (Deputy Public Prosecutors)

7 January 2009

Choo Han Teck J:

1 The accused was a 19-year old Malaysian from Sabah. On 13 June 2007 he was arrested near the Meritus Mandarin Hotel at Orchard Road at about midnight by officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau (“CNB”). He was subsequently charged with trafficking in 47.27g of a controlled drug, namely diamorphine, an offence under s 5(1)(a) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (Cap 185). The drugs were in two packets found in a Malaysian registered car MBK 5317 at the time the accused was arrested.

2 The accused did not challenge the prosecution’s evidence that he had taken the car from a man in a condominium in Johor, Malaysia on 12 June 2007. The accused then drove the car to Taman Sentosa in Johor. He had also taken a paper bag from the man who handed him the car. The accused placed the paper bag under the driver’s seat. This paper bag contained the drugs. After placing the paper bag under the driver’s seat, the accused went to look for his friend, one Chai Chor Hsiang (“Chai”) and asked him to drive the car into Singapore. The duo first stopped at Yishun Street 22 at about 10.40pm and there the accused handed a white plastic bag with a brown envelope containing white granular substance, to one Lim Foo Seng (“Lim”). Lim in return gave the accused cash amounting to $5,000. Thereafter, the accused and Chai drove off and were followed by CNB officers along various roads until they reached a bus-stop along Toh Guan Road, opposite the IMM Building. It was now about 11.20pm. Here the accused got out of the car and got into a taxi. He had asked Chai to follow the taxi and they eventually reached the Meritus Mandarin Hotel. It was about 11.50pm. The accused got out of the taxi and got back into the car driven by Chai. The car was parked in front of a black Mitsubishi Lancer SCV 2739M. Five minutes later, the accused got out of his car with a brown coloured envelope and got into the back seat of SCV 2739M. He alighted shortly, empty handed, and was then arrested.

3 The accused elected to testify when his defence was called. There was no dispute that the drugs in question were in the possession of the accused. The accused made it clear that his friend who helped him drive the car at various points had no knowledge of the packages in which the drugs were found. That being the case, the only question to be determined by this court was whether the accused had rebutted the presumption that he had knowledge that the articles in his...