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Quashing Saudi diplomat’s legal challenge for molest, apex court rebukes lawyer

SINGAPORE – In dismissing an attempt by a Saudi Arabian diplomat to challenge his conviction for molesting a hotel intern, the Court of Appeal rebuked his lawyer on Thursday (Feb 8) for filing a legal application that had no basis.

SINGAPORE – In dismissing an attempt by a Saudi Arabian diplomat to challenge his conviction for molesting a hotel intern, the Court of Appeal rebuked his lawyer on Thursday (Feb 8) for filing a legal application that had no basis.

During the hearing, defence lawyer Pang Giap Oon revealed that he had proceeded with the application because his client Bander Yaya A Alzahrani and the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia had insisted on it. This was despite his advice that there was no merit to it.

In response, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, who presided over the hearing, said that the apex court “expressed dissatisfaction” with Mr Pang’s conduct, which they noted was not “acceptable”. Mr Pang was ordered to pay S$5,000 in costs for filing the application.

Mr Pang’s revelation also prompted Deputy Public Prosecutor Hay Hung Chun to rise and say that the defence counsel “cannot just be a mere mouthpiece of the client” and that he “owes an ultimate duty to the court”.

DPP Hay said: “If he believes that it is not a question of law, he should inform his clients. And if they persist, maybe he should not act for them.”

Mr Pang had filed a criminal reference to refer questions of law of public interest, which included how the court dealt with a case such as Alzahrani’s, where his previous lawyer had “erred” in carrying out his instructions.

He also asked whether the district judge who had presided over Alzahrani’s trial was correct to accept the victim’s testimony without an expert’s evidence, and if there was a need for such an expert.

After an eight-day trial in February last year, Alzahrani, 40, was sentenced by the District Court to 26 months and one week’s jail and four strokes of the cane. This was after he was convicted of two counts of outrage of modesty, and one count of using criminal force on a 20-year-old woman who was then interning at a hotel in Sentosa.

Alzahrani, a diplomat stationed in Beijing, was in Singapore for a holiday with his wife and three children on Aug 14, 2016, when he committed the offences. In July last year, Alzahrani appealed against his conviction, but it was dismissed by the High Court.

He began serving his jail sentence in August last year after his third appeal to defer his sentence was rejected by the High Court in the same month. Alzahrani was represented by lawyer Shashi Nathan from RHTLaw Taylor Wessing during the trial and appeal.

At the latest hearing, Mr Pang argued that Mr Nathan had acted contrary to Alzahrani’s instructions, as he cited two examples.

During a pre-trial application for Alzahrani to leave the country, Mr Nathan had informed the court that his client had to accompany his wife and children to China. But this was incorrect as his family had already left Singapore by then, prompting the prosecution to charge that Alzahrani was a liar.

And while cross-examining the prosecution’s witnesses, Mr Nathan had repeatedly put to them that Alzahrani merely gave the victim a “friendly hug”. However, Mr Nathan later told the district judge that he had made an error and that Alzahrani had never hugged the victim.

During the 45-minute hearing, Chief Justice Menon repeatedly pointed out that the points raised by Mr Pang were not questions of law, but instead questions of fact. As such, the criminal reference filed had no merit to it. The case was also presided by Judges of Appeal Judith Prakash and Tay Yong Kwang.

“You need to frame a question of law that is of public interest,” said Chief Justice Menon. “You can’t jump over that hoop, you need to cross that hoop.”

Chief Justice Menon questioned why Mr Pang had filed the application even after High Court Judge of Appeal Steven Chong had said last September that it might not pass muster when he dismissed Alzahrani’s application to stay his sentence pending the leave application for Thursday’s hearing.

That was when Mr Pang revealed that he knew the application had no basis, but his client and the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia had “insisted” that he proceed with it. The embassy did not respond to queries from TODAY.

 

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