45-year-old Ranjit Singh Gill Menjeet Singh will have to spend his remaining life behind bars and be caned 15 strokes for trafficking in 35.21g of diamorphine, as the Court of Appeal threw out his appeal based on, among other things, allegations that his lawyers at trial had failed to present his case according to instructions. The fate of his co-accused …

What is the legal test to be applied when evaluating the evidence of an eyewitness to any crime? Would the evidence of an eyewitness be generally less reliable compared to that of the victim itself? These are the legal questions which the Court of Appeal faced on Wednesday (25th September), in the context of a criminal reference filed by the …

55-year-old Mohd Soberi bin Pakari will not be hanged after all, as the Court of Appeal threw out the Prosecution’s appeal against his reduced charge of “trafficking in not less than 14.99g of diamorphine” on Tuesday (24th September). On that same morning, his appeal for a lighter sentence than the 26 years’ imprisonment term imposed by Justice Choo Han Teck …

Three appeals had arose from a single decision of the High Court, following a joint trial of two accused persons, which sees one of them being sent to the gallows for drug trafficking and the other spending 10 years behind bars for abetment of drug possession. In a first, five lawyers had also been assigned to represent 40-year-old warehouse assistant …

“Where a witness has had a statement taken from him by the police or the CNB, and where the defence mounted by an accused person can be expected to be either confirmed or contradicted by that witness, is there a duty on the part of the Prosecution either to call that witness to testify, or to make available to the …

The Court of Appeal on Thursday (8th August) morning upheld the decision of the High Court to acquit a 58-year-old man of five charges relating to sexual offences allegedly committed by him against his live-in lover’s daughter, finding that the Prosecution had not proven all charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The decision of the apex court ended a 5-year long …

More than two years after his death sentence was affirmed by the apex court of the land, 45-year-old Norasharee bin Gous was back in court – before the same three-men panel which dismissed his appeal – on Monday (5th August) morning, seeking to reopen his concluded appeal and to receive fresh evidence. The application was initially based on the ground …

Brothel operator Chan Lie Sian, 55, was given the mandatory death sentence for murder two years ago, as the High Court found that he had the intention to kill when attacking his subordinate, 35-year-old William Tiah Hung Wai. On Tuesday (30th July) morning, the Court of Appeal ruled that Chan had no intention to kill Tiah, and convicted him on …

A person who laundered the proceeds not of his own crime but of others’ (hereafter known as a “secondary offender”), cannot be charged as a primary offender for “dealing with property representing his benefits from criminal conduct”, an offence under section 47(1) of the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act (Cap 65A, 2000 Rev Ed) …

Can the contents of a cautioned statement, made in response to an initial charge, be relied on to discredit an accused’s defence against a subsequent and different amended charge? Where an accused person is to be found guilty of a “general offence of attempt”, what is the legal approach to be taken in determining that the accused had “taken steps …