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Tag: Singapore

  • M Ravi Barred From Applying For Certificate To Practice For 2 Years

    M Ravi Barred From Applying For Certificate To Practice For 2 Years

    The Court of Three Judges has decided that lawyer M Ravi who was ordered to stop practising in Feb 2015 should be prohibited from applying for a practicing certificate for a period of 2 years. In its judgment released today (27 Oct), the Court said that this was necessary to safeguard the interests of the public and to uphold public confidence in the integrity of the legal profession.

    Mr Ravi’s case was brought before the Court of Three Judges after he pleaded guilty to four charges of misconduct before a disciplinary tribunal last year. The tribunal, in its report released in December 2015 said that a prima facie case had been established against Mr Ravi since he had “pleaded guilty to the four charges and his mental condition as per the evidence of Dr (Tommy) Tan (a psychiatrist) does not exculpate him for his various acts of misconduct but are mitigating factors only”.

    Mr Ravi had earlier pleaded guilty to four charges of misconduct, which include creating a ruckus at the Law Society premises on 10 Feb 2015 and another charge of making inappropriate statements against the Law Society president and his family members in a Facebook post. He was also found guilty of  making false allegations against two lawyers in Feb 2015.

    The tribunal referred Mr Ravi’s case to the Court of Three Judges as it had no power to penalise a non-practising lawyer.

    On 6 Sep, Mr Ravi’s lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam sought an overall fine of $10,000 ($2,500 per offence) and pleaded for the Court to take his client’s mental illness into account.

    The Law Society’s lawyer, Mr Sean La’Brooy, did not object to a fine. He however, in arguing that Mr Ravi’s condition should not “exonerate” him, sought a higher quantum of at least $5,000 for one of the offences.

    The three judges that heard the case — CJ Menon and Judges of Appeal Andrew Phang and Tay Yong Kwang – described Mr Ravi’s conduct as “reprehensible” and “disturbing”.

    CJ Menon had then asked: “(Are we) not going to hold a solicitor to the standards expected of him? … The whole thing may have been avoided if (Mr Ravi) had taken the doctor’s advice … Should we say because he has a medical condition, we punish him differently?”

    The Court had other sentencing options besides prohibiting Mr Ravi from practicing. Among these options are to censure him, to order him to pay a penalty of not more than $20,000, or to strike his name off the roll of lawyers.

    In delivering the verdict today, CJ Menon said that the Court was presented with a situation where Mr Ravi has a mental condition which has in the past caused him to act in a manner unbecoming of a lawyer. He said that there is a possibility that this may happen again in the future.

    “In this circumstances, we consider that anything short of prohibiting the respondent for a substantial period of time from applying for a practicing certificate would be inadequate,” the verdict read.

    Commenting on the verdict Mr Ravi said the following in his Facebook:

    “The Court of Appeal handed out a judgement today prohibiting me from practising law for a period of two years. I have already been out of practice for more than 18 months. My doctor had certified me fit to practice since December last year.The Law Society had approved my application for Practising Certificate in August 2016. However the Attorney General objected to my Practising Certificate. During the hearing before the Court of Appeal the Law Society had agreed that a fine is an appropriate penalty in line with the recommendation made by the Disciplinary Tribunal below.

    I accept that I did not behave appropriately when I was unwell. However, the Court of Appeal’s Judgment is acutely disproportionate in view of the Disciplinary Tribunals recommendation of a fine. The effect of the Court of Appeal’s judgment means I am put (out) of Practice of Law for close to 4 years.

    However in as much I am devastated, this will not deter me from continuing my work in the field of international human rights and constitutional law and contribute to society where I can. To this extent, I will continue my work by assisting the firm of Eugene Thuraisingam LLP in my current role as a Head of Knowledge Management and Strategic Alliance Division.”

     

    Source: http://theindependent.sg

  • Accident At BKE Involving 2 Motorbikes And 1 Car – Witnesses Needed

    Accident At BKE Involving 2 Motorbikes And 1 Car – Witnesses Needed

    Appealing for witness for BKE accident at 2145hours on 24/10/2016.

    bke-accident-3

    RTA involving 2 motorbike and a car. Anyone know of a duke rider who was at the scene pls help to contact me.

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    Pls help to share. Appreciate the help!

     

    Source: Adon Flashboybambam

  • At Least 1 E-Biker Dead After Collision With Trailer At West Coast Highway

    At Least 1 E-Biker Dead After Collision With Trailer At West Coast Highway

    WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

    Happened last night at West Coast Highway, 3 e-bikers got ran over by a container truck. Understand that 1 died instantly and 2 seriously injured.

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    SCDF arrived to assist in extrication and road clearing and cleaning. Our condolences to the families of the bikers.

    Remember to always ride with proper lights on the front and back when riding in the night. Wear proper approved safety helmet. Be a responsible rider and follow all road signs and rules.

    Admin: If Hong Kong can ban the sale and use of all e-bikes, then surely there must be some truth in that it is a vehicle that is not safe and compatible for use in city or heavy urban traffic situations.

    Sources: Road.sg and Naing Htay

  • Man On Trial For Murdering Wife’s Younger Lover

    Man On Trial For Murdering Wife’s Younger Lover

    It started casually with her colleague offering to take her home after work.

    As the rides became regular, Madam Serene Goh grew close to Mr Dexmon Chua and they confided in each other about their marital problems.

    Despite being married, they took their intimacy to another level and started having sex.

    Their trysts carried on for about a year.

    Her husband, Chia Kee Chen, later found out about the affair.

    A year later, Mr Dexmon was found dead with severe head injuries.

    Chia is now on trial for murdering Mr Dexmon, 37, who worked as a materials analyst at food packaging and processing company Tetra Pak.

    Chia is accused of – with the help of Indonesian Febri Irwansyah Djatmiko – forcing Mr Dexmon into a van and assaulting him until he died.

    Another accomplice, Chua Leong Aik, drove them to Lim Chu Kang, near the area where Mr Dexmon’s badly decomposed body was found.

    Yesterday, Chia, 56, pleaded not guilty and said: “I did not do it. I did not murder him.”

    His 51-year-old wife, the mother of their two girls, took the stand for about 10 minutes. Her statement to the police was read out to the court.

    The court heard that Madam Goh was a sales executive at Tetra Pak from 1995 till September 2013, when she was retrenched.

    She had known Mr Dexmon since 2003 as they took the company transportation to and from work from their Choa Chu Kang homes.

    In July 2011, he contacted her on the company’s instant messaging system and offered her a lift home after work.

    She turned him down but accepted when he offered a second time.

    From then on, they grew closer and she would regularly hitch a ride home from him.

    They also started texting, calling and communicating via the office instant messaging system.

    It was also around then that Madam Goh received an overseas call from a woman who claimed she was Chia’s wife in Indonesia, where he owns a fish farm.

    Madam Goh told the authorities this was not the first time she had received such a call.

    When she confronted her husband, he denied having an Indonesian wife.

    While she claimed she trusted Chia, she began confiding in Mr Dexmon, knowing he was married to a Thai woman.

    He did the same, sharing his marital problems with her.

    In August 2011, Mr Dexmon suggested to Madam Goh that they become intimate, and she agreed.

    They would meet after work and have sex in his car, at his home, and once at a hotel.

    ‘GUILTY’

    Madam Goh said in her statement that she felt “guilty” during the affair with Mr Dexmon.

    But they both could not bring themselves to stop the affair.

    In June 2012, with her permission, he recorded themselves having sex, twice, for “sentimental purposes”.

    They stopped having sex soon after and began quarrelling often, but still communicated over the phone.

    Later that year, Chia found Mr Dexmon’s text messages on his wife’s phone and confronted her when their two daughters were asleep.

    She admitted to the affair. She also said there were videos and pictures of her having sex with Mr Dexmon, which she feared he would spread.

    Enraged, Chia called Mr Dexmon using her mobile phone and scolded him in Hokkien, telling him to end the relationship.

    Mr Dexmon allegedly told Chia that he had deleted the racy videos and photographs.

    Madam Goh said she stopped her relationship with Mr Dexmon after that.

    In early 2013, Mr Dexmon mistakenly sent Madam Goh a Chinese New Year greeting through Whatsapp.

    Chia found out and became agitated, but Madam Goh assured him their affair was over. That was the last time they spoke about Mr Dexmon.

    After his wife’s testimony as a prosecution witness, it was the defence’s turn to cross-examine her.

    But Chia told his lawyer Peter Fernando not to do so.

    In the early hours of Dec 29, 2013, Madam Goh was awakened by a call from her husband, who asked for the phone number of her brother Goh Beng Guat.

    Prosecutors said Chia went on to ask Mr Goh for help to carry Mr Chua’s body, but he said no.

    That afternoon, Chia, Madam Goh and their two daughters left for a family trip to Johor Baru.

    On Dec 31, 2013, they returned and were stopped by the authorities at Woodlands Checkpoint.

    Chia was arrested that day and later charged with murder.

    The trial continues today.

    ABOUT THE CASE

    Chia Kee Chen is accused of killing Mr Dexmon Chua between 9.44pm on Dec 28, 2013, and 3.17pm on Dec 29, 2013.

    Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Lee said in the prosecution’s opening statement that Chia allegedly enlisted the help of Indonesian Febri Irwansyah Djatmiko, 33, who operated Chia’s fish farm in Malaysia, to carry out the murder.

    In return, Chia allegedly promised to set up a fish farm for him in Indonesia.

    He also roped in a third man, Chua Leong Aik, 66, a cleaning supervisor.

    On Dec 28, 2013, at about 10pm to 11pm, the three men lay in wait for Mr Dexmon at the multi-storey carpark near his Choa Chu Kang Avenue 4 home, said DPP Lee.

    Febri and Chia approached Mr Dexmon after he had parked and alighted from his car, and allegedly assaulted him.

    They were said to have forced Mr Dexmon into a van that Chia had borrowed, before tying up his arms and feet. Mr Dexmon was then allegedly assaulted some more by Chia and Febri until he died.

    Chua was instructed by Chia to drive to Lim Chu Kang and told the authorities he heard banging sounds from the back of the van and smelled blood en route.

    He later stopped and got out of the van as he was frightened and Chia allegedly took over the wheel.

    Chia allegedly drove to the military live firing area in Lim Chu Kang and disposed of Mr Dexmon’s body.

    They went to a Lim Chu Kang fish farm where they spent an hour washing the van.

    Chia and his family, joined by Febri, then took a trip to Malaysia.

    Febri, who is still at large, is said to have returned to Indonesia by ferry from Malaysia.

    Chia was arrested as he returned to Singapore.

    In January, Chua was jailed for five years for abduction and voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Mr Dexmon.

    Yesterday, DPP Lee said Mr Dexmon suffered extensive injuries to his face and head.

    The prosecution will call over 80 witnesses during the two-week trial to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Chia murdered Mr Dexmon.

    If convicted, Chia faces the death penalty or life imprisonment.

     

    Source: The New Paper

  • Walid J. Abdullah: Racism Only Exists When It Is Not Spoken By Them

    Walid J. Abdullah: Racism Only Exists When It Is Not Spoken By Them

    It’s funny how some people are so bent on using anecdotes -parliamentarians especially love to talk about their personal experiences – to display the truly multi-racial nature of Singapore, and to prove racism doesn’t exist.

    ‘My son didn’t want to bring a ham sandwich to school to respect his Muslim friends; see, there is no racism!’

    ‘I saw an Indian man calling an ambulance for a Chinese lady, and a Malay dude was the medic. Singaporean multiracialism ftw!’

    ‘I got into the lift and saw a Malay man, and i smiled and had a conversation with him. Only in Singapore do you get this.’ (somehow, speaking in a polite manner to other humans is uniquely Singaporean, and shows racism is absent!)

    —-

    But when these people come across other anecdotes that actually work against their ‘all is hunky dory’ theory, they will find all sorts of excuses to dismiss them.

    ‘Oh, our MP wasn’t being offensive. She just proposed the fence because it was practical. She gets along well with Indian workers, you know. Her suggestion is nothing like Trump’s.’

    ‘Oh, the portrayal of a hijabi as parking attendant in the children’s book is actually a good thing and does not reinforce stereotypes. Exposes children to the hijab. Good job author!’

    ‘The blackface incident was just something light-hearted. Please don’t be so sensitive. We must learn to laugh at ourselves.’

    ‘Yeah he said Malay and Indian workers cannot speak English properly. But that’s not what he really meant. We must look at the context.’

    And, the get-out-of-jail card for when one cannot perform intellectual gymnastics and is forced to admit that an incident is racist:

    ‘Yes, this was racist. But racism exists everywhere else. So be thankful for what you have here.’

    —-

    Yeah, continue telling yourselves that racism doesn’t exist. Continue glorifying your own experiences as the norm, and continue dismissing others’ encounters with racism as anomalies.

     

    Source: Walid J. Abdullah

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