M Ravi charged over criminal trespass of former law firm

SINGAPORE — Non-practising lawyer M Ravi was charged in court on Friday (June 30) for criminal trespass of his former law firm.

The 48-year-old, whose full name is Ravi Madasamy, is accused of entering criminal lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam’s law firm at People’s Park Centre on Tuesday afternoon. Court documents said he did so with the intention to annoy Mr Rueben Rajandran, reportedly the security guard at the firm.

His co-accused Lai Yew Thiam, 56, also faces the same charge. Both men were arrested on Thursday.

When contacted, Mr Thuraisingam said Ravi’s employment with the law firm was terminated on June 7 as he was rude to his colleagues and became unmanageable, among other reasons.

He added that he offered Ravi a non-lawyer position at his firm after the latter was barred from applying for a practising certificate for two years, in October last year. Ravi joined as the head of knowledge management and strategic alliance at the firm on Oct 1.

At Friday’s hearing, the police prosecutor asked for Ravi to be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric assessment but was turned down by district judge Adam Nakhoda.

Ravi, who was unrepresented, told the court that he has “acute awareness” of his bipolar disorder and listed psychiatrist Munidasa Winslow and psychologist Leeran Gold as his doctors. 

When asked by the judge if he was taking the prescribed medication for his mental condition, he said he was but was running out of medication, which was why he was in contact with Dr Winslow.

Asked by the judge to talk about his time being investigated for the charge by the police, Ravi said he told officers that he would not answer any questions  because he wanted to exercise his rights and privileges against self-incrimination. He added that he was in a “very joyous mood” because he is a very spiritual person.

After hearing from both Ravi and the prosecutor, the judge said he did not believe there was evidence to show that Ravi was unable to understand the court proceedings and the charge he was facing.

Both Lai and Ravi were offered bail of S$5,000, but were instructed not to return to the law firm until the case has concluded. They are also not allowed to discuss their case publicly, on any platform.

The pair are claiming trial to the charges before them and will return to court for a pre-trial conference on July 7.

Ravi was diagnosed with bipolar disorder since 2006, which is punctuated by episodes of mania and depression. He had also been suspended from practice for a year in 2006 because of this condition.

Last October, the High Court ruled that his mental condition had caused him to conduct himself “deplorably in relation to the judiciary, his clients and the profession as a whole”, including making “baseless, racially-charged allegations” in several incidents around that period.

The court also ruled that his condition had deteriorated “rapidly and precipitously” even though he was compliant with his prescribed medication regime.

If convicted of criminal trespass in the current case, Ravi and Lai may each be jailed up to three months, fined up to S$1,500 or both.