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Court ups sentence of man involved in fracas, criticises prosecutors

SINGAPORE — Information painting a “fuller picture” of the circumstances of a case is needed by the court to help in its decision and sentencing, said a High Court judge, who criticised prosecutors for tendering an “inadequate” statement of facts (SOF) for a case, even as he granted their appeal for a tougher sentence.

SINGAPORE — Information painting a “fuller picture” of the circumstances of a case is needed by the court to help in its decision and sentencing, said a High Court judge, who criticised prosecutors for tendering an “inadequate” statement of facts (SOF) for a case, even as he granted their appeal for a tougher sentence.

The case involved a man who had hit his victim on the head with a glass bottle on July 6, 2014. Andrew Koh Weiwen, 27, was initially sentenced to two days’ jail and fined S$5,000 for the offence. His sentence was raised to a four-week jail term after Justice Chan Seng Onn granted the prosecution’s appeal.

In a written judgment released yesterday, Justice Chan noted that there were several facts — some disputed — relevant to the sentence that were not ascertained or resolved at the district court hearing. This includes the surrounding circumstances prior to Koh hitting the victim, Mr Lai Yongwen, on his head; if others were involved; and whether Koh was injured, among others.

He noted that Koh’s assertion in his mitigation plea that he was helping his friend who was being assaulted had been objected to by the prosecution, which had said this was not “borne out by investigation”.

But the SOF gave the impression that any fracas that occurred was only between Koh and Mr Lai, and no one else was involved, said Justice Chan, who also called the SOF tendered by the prosecution and admitted by Koh “inadequate and bare”.

Eventually, both parties explained that the fracas was verbal — and not physical — before Koh hit Mr Lai, and the fight only turned physical after that.

Had both parties not agreed on the relevant facts for sentencing, Justice Chan said he would have sent the case back for a Newton hearing, which is held to resolve disputed points for sentencing.

Justice Chan said that prosecutors may at times tender an SOF “light in narrative detail” to “dispose of cases quickly for practical reasons”, but an SOF is crucial in setting out the admitted facts for the court’s consideration when it comes to sentencing cases where an accused has pleaded guilty.

He also said that cases of voluntarily causing hurt “may not be so easily dealt with” without all relevant facts material to the sentence.

“Unless constrained by the plea bargaining process or other valid practical reasons, the SOF tendered by the prosecution ought to paint a fuller picture and flesh out the relevant facts material to both guilt and sentence to assist the judge, given that the factual circumstances in each case can vary greatly and the sentencing range for the offence is fairly wide,” he added.

On Koh’s sentence, Justice Chan noted that both the prosecution and the district judge had used different starting points — the former argued that a jail term of a few weeks should be imposed when a dangerous weapon is used, while the district judge noted that offences that cause minor injuries are dealt with by fines unless there are certain aggravating factors.

Taking into consideration all sentencing factors, Justice Chan said that he found Koh’s earlier sentence to be “manifestly inadequate”.

Noting the unprovoked, sudden and sustained nature of the attack where a dangerous weapon had been directed with considerable force at the head of the victim, who was waiting for public transport in the early hours of the morning, he granted the appeal.

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