SINGAPORE — Two convicted drug traffickers were spared the gallows today (April 20), five years after they were sentenced to death.

Malaysians Cheong Chun Yin, 31, and Pang Siew Fum, 60, were sentenced to life imprisonment for trafficking 2.7kg of heroin into Singapore on June 16, 2008. 

Cheong was also given 15 strokes of the cane, the minimum prescribed by the Misuse of Drugs Act. The two were convicted in 2010.

Today, High Court judge Choo Han Teck said he was satisfied that Cheong’s involvement was that of a courier. He also noted that the prosecution had tendered documents certifying Cheong had “substantively assisted” the Central Narcotics Bureau in disrupting drug trafficking activities outside Singapore.

Cheong had initially been refused a Certificate of Cooperation under the amended Misuse of Drugs Act, after the Public Prosecutor determined that he had not fulfilled the criteria. He became eligible last year, following new information received.

The Misuse of Drugs Act was amended together with the Penal Code in 2012 to remove the mandatory death penalty for certain types of homicide and drug trafficking offences, in a move to “temper justice with mercy”.

Apart from meeting the condition of having played only the role of a courier, a drug trafficker must either have cooperated with the Central Narcotics Bureau in a substantive way or have a mental disability that substantially impairs his appreciation of the gravity of the act.

In Pang’s case, Justice Choo said he was persuaded that she was suffering from mental abnormalities during the time of the offence. Her lawyers Mr Irving Choh and Ms Lim Bee Li had submitted a medical opinion that Pang was suffering from a major depressive disorder around the time of the offence, which had “substantially impaired her mental responsibility” for her act.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Cheong’s 59-year-old father, Mr Cheong Kah Pin, said he is relieved that Cheong was spared and is “at peace”. “But I hope the Singapore Government can give him a chance and let him come back earlier,” he said in Mandarin.

The elder Mr Cheong said he had sold his house and other assets to pay for Cheong’s legal fees. Since Cheong’s remand in June 2008, Mr Cheong had made weekly trips to and from Johor Baru to Changi prison to visit his son.