Can a person who returns drugs to its original owner be considered to have trafficked in those drugs by ‘delivering’ to its owner? The Court of Appeal answered the above question in the negative, as it reduced the drug trafficking charge for 40-year-old Ramesh a/l Perumal, to a drug possession charge simpliciter on Friday (15 March). In so doing, the …

A 47-year-old lorry driver, who was sentenced to death for drug trafficking, will have a second chance to escape the gallows; after the Court of Appeal allowed his appeal and remitted his case for a re-trial before another High Court judge on last Friday (1 March). This was because Murugan Subrawmanian, who had initially remained silent when called to put …

In a criminal reference brought by the Public Prosecutor, the Court of Appeal has ruled that accused persons who had pleaded guilty before sentencing, should generally be allowed to retract their plea of guilt at the mitigation stage of sentencing, without the need to provide valid and sufficient reasons for doing so. This ruling, however, does not apply to an …

For robbing and killing 62-year-old Madam Kanne Lactmy, 51-year-old P Mageswaran was convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and given a jail term of 18 years by the High Court. Both the Prosecution and the Defence, however, were not satisfied with the sentence and continued to push for their respective positions on the appropriate jail term for Mageswaran …

A 35-year-old Malaysian pimp would still have to spend the remainder of his life behind bars, as the Court of Appeal threw out his appeal on Tuesday (19 February) morning. The court – led by Judge of Appeal Andrew Phang and which included Judges of Appeal Judith Prakash and Steven Chong – agreed with Justice Choo Han Teck’s decision in …

The fate of Nagaenthran a/l K Dharmalingam, who had been on death row for a large part of the last 10 years, continued to be left twisting in the wind, as the Court of Appeal reserved judgment in his two final appeals to escape the death sentence on Thursday (24 January). The appeals involved two separate decisions by Nagaenthran’s trial …

The hearing of the Prosecution’s appeal against a High Court’s decision to acquit a man of five sexual offence charges continued before the Court of Appeal in the afternoon of Wednesday (23 January). This came after the Prosecution was allowed to bring in certain fresh evidence to support the appeal in February last year, where the Court of Appeal laid …

When medical negligence resulted in a loss of chance of survival, or reduced the prospects of a favourable medical outcome, can it form the basis for claiming compensation against the negligent doctor? If so, how is the compensation to be quantified? These questions formed the center of a dispute between a widow on one hand, and a pathologist and a …

The Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in an appeal by Dr Wong Souk Yee, assistant treasurer of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), against Justice Chua Lee Ming’s dismissal of her judicial review application in a bid to have a by-election held in the Marsiling-Yew Tee Group Representation Constituency (MYT GRC), on Wednesday (16 January). The matter began when Madam …

Does the High Court have jurisdiction to hear applications for patent revocation, brought by way of defence and counterclaim in infringement proceedings? The final answer is “yes”, ruled a five-judge Court of Appeal on Thursday (10th January). With this ruling from the highest court of the land, Sunseap Group Pte Ltd and its subsidiaries, Sunseap Energy and Sunseap Leasing, would …