S Nagarajan s/o Kuppusamy v Public Prosecutor

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Karthigesu JA
• Judgment Date: 01 February 1999
• Neutral Citation: [1999] SGCA 9
• Docket Number: Criminal Appeal No 18 of 1998
• Date: 01 February 1999
• Published date: 19 September 2003
• Year: 1999
• Plaintiff Counsel: Subhas Anandan (MPD Nair & Co) and David Tan (Toh Tan & Partners)
• Citation: [1999] SGCA 9
• Defendant Counsel: Jasbendar Kaur (Deputy Public Prosecutor)
• Court: Court of Appeal (Singapore)
• Subject Matter: Criminal Law,s 86(2) Penal Code (Cap 224),Whether incapable of forming intention to cause death,Murder,Defence of Intoxication

Judgment:

YONG PUNG HOW CJ

(delivering the grounds of judgment of the court): The appellant was convicted in the High Court on the following charge and sentenced to death:

You are charged at the instance of the Attorney General as Public Prosecutor and the charge against you is:

That you, S Nagarajan s/o Kuppusamy on or about 10 May 1998 at about 1.50am at `Foo Wah Food Court` located at Lorong 18, 346 Geyland Road, Singapore, did commit murder by causing the death of one Jaranjeet Singh s/o Darshan Singh, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under s 302 of the Penal Code (Cap 224).

He appealed against his conviction. We heard his appeal and dismissed it. We now give our reasons.

2. The facts

Sometime after midnight on 10 May 1998, the appellant met up with some friends at a coffee-shop at Jalan Sultan. They were Saminathan Subramaniam (`Saminathan`), who was the appellant`s colleague, Saminathan`s brother Masalamani s/o Subramaniam, and Saminathan`s uncle Arumugam a/l Mari Chinnasamy Chetty (`Arumugam`). They were there for about 45 minutes and drank some beer. When the coffee-shop was about to close, the appellant suggested that the group proceed to Foo Wah food-court (`the food-court`) at Lorong 18, 346 Geylang Road for more beer and food. The group went in Arugmugam`s car with the appellant directing the way.

3.The group arrived at the food-court at about 1am. When the appellant entered the food-court he noticed Palanisamy Parwathi (`Parwathi`) and Arayee Sirengan (`Arayee`) sitting at a table near the counter with some men. He went up to Arayee and spoke to her about the repayment of a loan which he had taken from a moneylender introduced to him by Arayee. After a short while he returned to his friends` table, which was next to Arayee`s. Soon after he returned to Arayee`s table and scolded her in a hostile manner. The appellant noticed that one Jaranjeet Singh s/o Darshan Singh (`the deceased`) was looking at him when he scolded Arayee. He asked the deceased what he was looking at. When the deceased did not answer, the appellant assaulted him. Although it was contended by the appellant that he was provoked into the assault by the deceased`s actions in pointing his finger at him and uttering vulgarity, Parwathi gave evidence that she did not hear the deceased say anything. Tiang Wen Jiann (`Tiang`), the coffee-shop proprietor`s son, also gave evidence that he did not hear the deceased say anything to anyone.

4.Parwathi and Tiang gave evidence of the assault. The assault started with the appellant slapping the deceased with the back of his hand. As the deceased tried to get up from his seat the appellant punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground. The appellant then picked up a beer bottle and smashed it over the deceased`s head. At this point, Saminathan also picked up a bottle and smashed it over the deceased`s head. As the deceased staggered to his feet and tried to get out of the coffee-shop, the appellant pulled him from behind by the collar and stabbed him with the broken bottle which he was holding in his right hand. The deceased collapsed on the walkway. The appellant and his friends then drove away in Arumugam`s car.

5.The pathologist Dr Wee Keng Poh (`Dr Wee`) conducted an autopsy on the deceased. In the autopsy report Dr Wee commented that:

The external and internal injuries to the head and neck were consistent with that sustained as a result of multiple blows and stab wound by a broken glass bottle. This was an unnatural cause of death.

Dr Wee also stated in the autopsy report that the certified cause of death was acute exsanguination due to stab wound of the neck. He testified that the deceased would have died from the fatal stab wound in a matter of minutes and that the wound was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. He...