Tan Ngin Hai v Public Prosecutor

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Wong Choon Ning
• Judgment Date: 13 February 2001
• Neutral Citation: [2001] SGDC 44
• Year: 2001
• Published date: 19 September 2003
• Citation: [2001] SGDC 44
• Court: District Court (Singapore)

JUDGMENT:

Grounds of Decision

The accused claimed trial before me to the following two charges:-

DAC 12515/2000 (Exh. P1A)

"You,

Name : Tan Ngin Hai, Male/44 years old
NRIC No. : S1164469D
Nationality : Singapore Citizen
Address : Blk 100 Aljunied Crescent #09-349

are charged that you on the 10th day of Apr 2000, at or about 2.55 am, at the carpark of Blk 106 Aljunied Crescent, Singapore did commit theft of coins amounting to Singapore $1.10 from a motor van bearing registration number GJ 7481 M, in the possession of one Ng Kok Soon, and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 379 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224."

DAC 24099/2000 (Exh. P2)

"You,

Name : Tan Ngin Hai, Male/44 years old
NRIC No. : S1164469D
Nationality : Singapore Citizen
Address : Blk 100 Aljunied Crescent #09-349

are charged that you on the 10th day of Apr 2000, at or about 2.55 am, at the carpark of Blk 106 Aljunied Crescent, Singapore did have in your possession a Mitsubishi car key which might be reasonably suspected of being stolen or fraudulently obtained, and for which you failed to account satisfactorily as to how you came by the same and you have thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 35(1) of the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act, Chapter 184."

2. At the conclusion of the trial, I found that the prosecution had proven its case on the first charge against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt and I convicted the accused on the said charge. For the second charge, I found that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and accordingly I acquitted the accused on the second charge. The defence has now appealed against the orders of conviction and sentence for the first charge. There is no appeal by the prosecution against the order of acquittal for the second charge.

THE PROSECUTION'S CASE

Evidence of the arresting officers (PW 1 and PW 3)

3. Sgt Muhammad Fazli bin Ismail (PW 1) testified that, on 9 Apr 2000, at about 2.57 am, he was performing patrol duties with his partner, one Cpl Ow Gim Seng (PW 3), when they received a despatch message from the Division Operations Room. The text of the message was that a male Chinese wearing a black T-shirt and riding a bicycle had been spotted opening the doors of vehicles in the carpark of Blk 106 Aljunied Crescent and that he had managed to go into a white van.

4. PW 1 and PW 3 proceeded forthwith to the scene to investigate and arrived there within 3 minutes, at about 3 am. PW 1 drove the patrol car into the carpark and parked it at the innermost end of the carpark, in the area shown in photo D2. Both officers alighted from their vehicle and patrolled the carpark on foot to search for the white van and culprit. Walking together in the same direction, PW 1 and PW 3 performed foot patrol from the back towards the entrance of the carpark.

5. PW 1 gave evidence that, as he and PW 3 were walking down the carpark towards the entrance of the carpark, they spotted a white Mitsubishi van which was parked in Lot No. 90 of the carpark. PW 1 testified that, when he had walked up a bit past the van, from the back of the van, he saw the accused, who was wearing a black T-shirt, closing the front passenger side door. There was also a bicycle parked beside the said van. At the material time, PW 3 was with PW 1 when the accused was spotted.

6. PW 3 gave evidence which corroborated PW 1's account. He testified that, when they first spotted the accused, the latter was just outside the passenger side of the van, with the front passenger door opened. A bicycle was just behind the accused, in between the two vehicles. The bicycle was a bit more forward, nearer to the van, than what is shown in photos P3 and P4.

7. Upon spotting the accused, both officers approached him who remained standing on the passenger side of the van. In court, PW 3 described how, in making their approach, they had effectively cornered the accused. PW 1 had gone to the front of the van and approached him from that direction, while PW 3 approached the accused directly from the back. PW 3, who was slim in physique, was able to squeeze through the space between the van and the bicycle and move towards the accused.

8. PW 1 questioned the accused as to whether he was the owner of the van, or whether he worked for the company which owned the van. To both questions, the accused answered in the negative. PW 1 then noticed that the accused was holding a vehicle key (P12) in his hand. He questioned him as to whether the key belonged to him and the accused replied that it was his key.

9. PW 1 took the key from the accused and, after telling his partner to guard the accused, he proceeded to the van to try to use the key to lock and unlock the van as well as to start the engine. PW 1 found that the key could not be used to open the door on the driver's side of the van nor to start the engine. The key could, however, be used to lock and unlock the front passenger side door.

10. PW 1 checked the van and found that its interior was in a mess (as shown in photo P8). After checking the interior of the van, PW 1 conducted a frisk search of the accused. PW 3 corroborated PW 1's evidence that he had searched the accused's body only after he had tried using the key on the van and checked the interior of the van.

11. During the body search, PW 1 found a few coins (amounting to $6.00) in the accused's front left shorts pocket. There were also a few folded $50 notes in the said pocket. PW 1 questioned the accused as to where he had got the money. As the accused replied that the money was his, the accused was allowed to retain all the money and his wallet.

12. Subsequently, two other police officers, namely, Cpl Tan Meng Chye and SC/Sgt Mohd Najib bin Said Madina, arrived at the scene in another patrol car bearing call sign CR 12. They were there to provide back-up assistance to PW 1 and PW 2.

13. After the arrival of the second team, PW 1 ascertained the address of the owner of the van, from the address painted at the side of the van. PW 1 requested the second team of police officers to assist in tracing the owner who was staying at Blk 106 Aljunied Crescent. One of the officers in the second team then went up Blk 106 to look for the owner of the van. Subsequent to the arrival of the second patrol car, two other police officers, namely, one Senior Staff Sergeant Danker and a Patrol Sergeant, had also turned up at the scene.

14. At the scene, at one point in time, PW 1 had instructed PW 3 to investigate if any other vehicle in the carpark could be opened using the accused's key (P12). PW 3 testified that he had then gone around the carpark to see if any other vehicle had been broken into. He did this by checking to see if any of the vehicles were left unlocked. He did not actually test each vehicle by using the accused's key to try and open it.

15. PW 3 testified that he subsequently found a station-wagon, bearing registration number GK 3174 X, parked a distance away from PW 2's van, in Lot No. 78. As the station-wagon was found to be unlocked, PW 3 tested the accused's key on it and discovered that it could be used to open both the doors on the driver's side and passenger's side of the station-wagon. The interior of the station-wagon, however, did not look like it had been ransacked. As the owner could not be contacted, PW 3 could not be sure if anything was missing. PW 3 then locked the station-wagon using the accused's key and returned to PW 1 and informed him of it. PW 1 then requested the Division Operations Room to trace the ownership of the station-wagon but the owner could not be verified as the station-wagon was registered in the name of a company. In court, PW 3 could not recall the make of the station-wagon. The Investigating Officer had also apparently neglected to ascertain the make of the station-wagon.

16. Both PW 1 and PW 3 testified that the owner of the van, namely, one Ng Kok Soon (PW 2) had come down to the carpark. With the accused squatting on the passenger's side of the van, more towards the rear, PW 2 was invited to view him from a distance of 3 m away. PW 2 indicated that he did not know the accused. PW 2 was next invited to check his van to see if anything was missing. PW 2 then informed the police officers that the coins which he had placed in the compartment below the radio were missing. No other things were taken from the van.

17. Hearing this, PW 1 recalled the coins which he had earlier found in the accused's front left shorts pocket. He went over to the accused and retrieved the coins from him. He brought the coins over to PW 2 and invited him to see if he could identify any of the coins. PW 2 then positively identified one dented 10-cent coin (P13) as that belonging to him.

18. PW 1 testified that, upon PW 2's confirmation that the 10-cent coin found in the accused's possession was one of the items taken from the van, he decided to place the accused under arrest for theft from a vehicle. The accused and the exhibits were then brought back to Central Police Station, where PW 1 lodged a Report of the First Police Officer at Scene of Crime or Death (P15).

Evidence of the owner of the van (PW 2)

19. Mr Ng Kok Soon (PW 2) testified that, on 9 Apr 2000, sometime past 5 pm, he had parked his white Mitsubishi van in Lot No. 90, in the open carpark of Blk 106, Aljunied Crescent. He had locked his van before leaving the van.

20. PW 2 testified that, when the van was left parked in the carpark, a number of coins had been kept in a drawer compartment below the radio in the van. There would be $1 coins, 20-cent coins and 10-cent coins. However, when he checked the van at about 3.05 am, he discovered that all the coins were missing. Although PW 2 could not say with certainty the exact value of the coins which were in the drawer compartment when he left the van that evening, he was certain that there were at least one $1 coin and one...