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Avoid pressuring judges to impose harsh or lenient sentences: Shanmugam

File photo of Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam. (Yahoo News Singapore/Dhany Osman)
File photo of Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam. (Yahoo News Singapore/Dhany Osman)

While public condemnation over cases such as the torture and death of waitress Annie Ee is understandable, society must try and avoid putting pressure on judges to impose harsh or lenient sentences, Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday (20 December), the minister acknowledged that many Singaporeans, including himself, were “outraged” by what had happened to the 27-year-old. Ee was systematically abused and exploited for her salary for months by her flatmates Tan Hui Zhen, 33, and Pua Hak Chuan, 38.

The couple were sentenced to 16 years and 14 years imprisonment, respectively, with the latter to be caned 14 times as well. The case caused public uproar as well as a petition for a harsher sentence for Tan and Pua, which has been signed by more than 35,000 people.

Shanmugam said that he was “troubled” by some of the sentiments expressed, in particular with the “aspersions” cast on the characters of the defence lawyers who represented the couple.

“We have a well-functioning court system. We must have the confidence that our judges will do the right thing. And if the sentence does not appear right, the Prosecution/Defence can appeal,” said the minister. “The sentence that a defendant gets, in any particular case, must not depend on how the public react during the case.”

As to the criticism of defence lawyer Josephus Tan by netizens, Shanmugam stressed, “A lawyer has the duty to put forward the strongest possible arguments, on behalf of his client, in court. It will be a sad day for Singapore, if lawyers are going to be hounded in public, for standing up in court to argue on behalf of their clients.”

“We have to remember – someone known to anyone of us could be charged for any offence at any point in time. Rule of Law means that the person is entitled to have his lawyer put forward the strongest possible arguments in his favour.”

He concluded, “We ought to be a civilised society, observing the Rule of Law, while expressing our unhappiness and moral outrage when seeing such conduct as in this case.”

His comments come after the Attorney-General’s Chambers and The Law Society of Singapore issued recent statements on the Ee case, urging respect for due process.

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