Advertisement

AGC to place more weight on offenders' culpability and harm caused: AG Lucien Wong

Photo of Attorney-General Lucien Wong: Dhany Osman/Yahoo News Singapore
Photo of Attorney-General Lucien Wong: Dhany Osman/Yahoo News Singapore

The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) will place more weight on the culpability of offenders and the harm they cause, rather than on past court judgements, said Attorney-General (AG) Lucien Wong on Monday (8 January).

Speaking at the opening of the legal year, AG Wong said these sentencing principles will be a “key focus” in determining the prosecution’s position, which will then be adjusted for any aggravating or mitigating factors.

Wong was highlighting a key initiative that the AGC will be putting in place over this year. Addressing some 500 members of the legal fraternity, Wong also commented on the AGC’s position on the Annie Ee case.

“In doing so, we will give full consideration to the range of sentencing options provided for under the law, to ensure sentencing parity and proportionality,” he said.

Currently, prosecutors usually base their sentencing positions primarily on how offenders in similar past cases were punished.

Said the AG, “I understand the public disquiet and frustration when egregious conduct is not, to the public’s mind, adequately punished.”

That said, the AG pointed out that AGC would not “take short-term views” or “allow a vocal minority to influence its actions” and added that decisions made in the wider public interest may not be “synonymous” with decisions that are popularly received.

Wong was referring to the AGC’s decision to inform the public on why it did not press murder charges against the couple who confessed to torturing their flatmate, 26-year-old waitress Annie Ee to death.

Tan Hui Zhen, 33, was sentenced to 16.5 years’ jail, while her husband Pua Hak Chuan, 38, was jailed for 14 years and given 14 strokes of the cane after the couple pleaded guilty to charges of voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Ee last November. They were initially charged with murder but the charge was dropped after AGC found that it could not be proven against them given the evidence.

Many members of the public took to social media to express anger that the couple were not charged with murder. A petition calling for the couple to face harsher punishment garnered tens of thousands of signatures.

Wong said that while the AGC shares some of its decisions with the public, it does not expect everyone to agree with them.

“Rather, we want the public to better understand the complex nature of the judgement calls that we have to make – and we make them each day – and the broader policy imperatives that inform our decisions,” he said.

“The public should rest assured that we will continue to refine our approach towards criminal justice, with the view to ensuring that no misconduct goes unpunished, that all misconduct is justly punished, and that all persons are equally treated before the law.”