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Police officer who accessed accident report, destroyed evidence jailed 4 weeks

Yap told the court that he had committed the offence in a
Senior Staff Sergeant Yap How Tat was sentenced to four weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to one count of accessing computer information without authority and another count of destroying material that could have served as evidence in court. (PHOTO: Getty Images)

*This story was updated at 2pm on 9 January 2019 to reflect the status of the accused’s position in the police force

While lodging a report about a traffic accident that he had been involved in, a police officer took control of a police centre’s computer terminal claiming that he needed to vet the report.

Instead, Senior Staff Sergeant Yap How Tat accessed the report made by another party involved in the accident and took photos of it. When the 35-year-old officer was confronted over his actions, he tried to delete the pictures from his phone.

At the State Courts on Tuesday (8 January), Yap was sentenced to four weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to one count of accessing computer information without authority and another count of destroying material that could have served as evidence in court.

Yap was attached to the Choa Chu Kang Neighbourhood Police Centre (NPC) at the time of the offence.

In response to queries from Yahoo News Singapore, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said Yap had been suspended from service from 18 December last year.

“Following his conviction on 8 January 2019, SPF has commenced disciplinary proceedings against him,” it added.

Deleted evidence from phone

The prosecution told the court that Yap had been involved in a road traffic accident along Yishun Avenue 8 at about 3.50am on 16 April 2017. The motorcyclist involved in the accident taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and made a police report later that morning.

At about 3.30am the next morning, Yap visited Bukit Panjang NPC to lodge a road traffic accident report. He identified himself as a police officer from Choa Chu Kang NPC and produced his warrant card as evidence.

While taking Yap’s statement, Sergeant Joel Lin moved the monitor of the computer terminal closer to Yap so that he could vet the report. However, Yap claimed he could not see the report and insisted that he take over the computer terminal.

Sergeant Lin allowed Yap to do so but kept a close eye on him. Through the system, Yap then accessed the motorcyclist’s report without authorisation. He also took photos of the report with his phone.

Lin noticed Yap accessing the report and informed his team leader. When the team leader confronted Yap and demanded to see his phone, Yap deleted the photographs before handing it over.

Actions showed premeditation: prosecution

Deputy Public Prosecutor Thiagesh Sukumaran sought a sentence of four to six weeks’ jail for Yap.

Not only did Yap access the report system without authorisation for his personal benefit, he had also “abused his position as a senior police officer to access the system”, said Thiagesh.

He added that Yap knew it was illegal to access the motorcyclist’s report without authorisation.

Yap had also displayed a degree of premeditation as he had used another police officer’s account to access the motorcyclist’s report in order to cover his tracks, said the DPP.

In mitigation, Yap, who was unrepresented, said that if there was premeditation involved, he would have accessed the report through his own computer instead of visiting a police station in the wee hours of the morning.

He told the court that he had committed the offence in a “moment of folly”.

However, District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt told Yap, “You knew what you were doing… You should not have accessed the report and should not have taken the photos.”

For destroying the photos, Yap could have been jailed up to two years, fined, or both. For accessing computer material without proper authorisation, he could have been jailed up to two years, fined a maximum $5,000, or both.

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