See Kee Oon | |
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施奇恩 | |
Justice of the Supreme Court of Singapore | |
Assumed office 1 February 2017 | |
Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Singapore | |
Assumed office 14 April 2014 [1] | |
Presiding Judge of the State Courts of Singapore | |
Assumed office 1 October 2013 | |
Preceded by | Tan Siong Thye |
Personal details | |
Born | 1966 (age 56–57) Singapore |
Alma mater | National University of Singapore Hughes Hall,Cambridge |
See Kee Oon | |||||||
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Simplified Chinese | 施奇恩 | ||||||
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See Kee Oon (born 1966) is a Singaporean judge who is currently a Judge of the Supreme Court and was the Presiding Judge of the State Courts.
See received a Bachelor of Laws from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1991 and obtained a Master of Laws (first class honours) from the University of Cambridge in 1994. He also holds a Master of Public Management from the NUS's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
See joined the Singapore Legal Service in 1991 and was appointed as a Deputy Registrar and Magistrate in the Subordinate Courts (now State Courts). [2] From 1995 to 1997,he served as a Justices' Law Clerk before becoming a District Judge in 1998. As a District Judge,he heard a variety of cases in the criminal,civil and family courts until 2007,when he became Head of the Insolvency and Public Trustee's Office. In November 2009,See was reappointed as a District Judge and subsequently made Senior District Judge,heading the Criminal Justice Division of the Subordinate Courts.
During his tenure as District Judge,See presided the robbery trial of Ragu Ramajayam,who was the secondary mastermind of a S$1.3 million mobile phone heist,during which Ragu's colleague Wan Cheon Kem was robbed and brutally killed by Ragu's accomplices. See sentenced 37-year-old Ragu to six years in prison and 12 strokes of the cane,after taking into account that Ragu breached his position of trust and his role in the heist itself had led to the murder of Wan. [3] Ragu's sentence was later reduced to 4+1⁄2 years in jail and six strokes of the cane after he appealed. In the aftermath, one of Ragu's accomplices Nakamuthu Balakrishnan was given the death sentence for murder while the remaining three were given jail terms and caning for armed robbery with hurt. [4]
On 1 October 2013, See became the Chief District Judge of the Subordinate Courts [5] and a member of a committee to guide the development of the Singapore University of Social Sciences's School of Law. [6] On 14 April 2014, he was appointed as a Judicial Commissioner and Presiding Judge of the State Courts. On 31 January 2017, he was promoted to Judge of the Supreme Court. [7] [8]
See has taken the unusual position that testifying witnesses are not required to be given an oath or otherwise instructed to tell the truth. Instead, he contends that the Oaths and Declarations Act "gives the judge the prerogative [9] whether to caution a witness ["to speak the truth"] or not," [10] resulting in a greater likelihood of wrongful convictions.
One case presided by See was the 2021 trial of Gaiyathiri Murugayan, who was charged with the abuse and murder of Piang Ngaih Don, a Myanmar national who was her domestic maid. Gaiyathiri was found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and voluntarily causing hurt to the maid, and sentenced to a total of 30 years' imprisonment. See described the case as one of the worst cases of culpable homicide Singapore has ever seen, and described that the degree of callousness and violence was so shocking that no suitable words could adequately describe the inhumane year-long mistreatment, assault and starvation, which the maid was subjected to. [11]
In July 2018, See was also the presiding judge of a female drug trafficker’s case for diamorphine trafficking. The female trafficker, Saridewi Djamani, was charged with one count of smuggling 30.72g of diamorphine and she put up a defense that she only meant to traffic less than half of the drugs while leaving the remaining majority portion for her personal use during the Muslim fasting month Ramadan. See rejected Saridewi’s claims since she had attempted to downplay the scale of her criminal activities and was inconsistent with her evidence regarding her daily drug intake in both her police statements and court testimony. Since Saridewi was not acting as a courier, she was sentenced to death upon her conviction for diamorphine trafficking. Saridewi’s Malaysian accomplice Muhammad Haikal Abdullah was jointly tried and later sentenced to life imprisonment and caning (15 strokes) by See on the same date of Saridewi’s sentencing. Five years later, 45-year-old Saridewi was executed on 28 July 2023, becoming the first female offender to be put to death, 19 years after the Yen May Woen case in 2004. [12] [13] [14]
See was also the judge who heard the last-minute appeals by two Malaysian drug traffickers Pannir Selvam Pranthaman and Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam in 2020 and 2021 respectively, as they sought to reopen their cases and delay their executions. Both Pannir and Nagaenthran lost their appeals and remained on death row since, and out of the two, Nagaenthran was initially set to be executed on 10 November 2021 before it was delayed due to Nagaenthran tested positive for COVID-19. [15] [16] [17] Nagaenthran was hanged on 27 April 2022. [18]
Capital punishment in Singapore is a legal penalty. Executions in Singapore are carried out by long drop hanging, and usually take place at dawn. Thirty-three offences—including murder, drug trafficking, terrorism, use of firearms and kidnapping—warrant the death penalty under Singapore law.
Choo Han Teck is a Singaporean judge of the Supreme Court. He was formerly a lawyer before his appointment to the court as a judge. It was revealed in 2021 that Choo was one of the defence lawyers representing Adrian Lim, the infamous Toa Payoh child killer who was executed in 1988 for charges of murdering a girl and boy as ritual sacrifices. In 1994, Choo also defended Phua Soy Boon, a jobless Singaporean who was hanged in 1995 for killing a moneylender.
Yong Vui Kong is a Malaysian who was sentenced to death in Singapore for trafficking more than 15 grams of heroin in 2007. His sentence was reduced to life imprisonment and caning as a result of Singapore's amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Chan Seng Onn is a Singaporean judge. Formerly a prosecutor, Chan has served as a High Court judge since 2 July 2007.
Nagaenthran a/l K. Dharmalingam was a Malaysian drug trafficker who was convicted of trafficking 42.72 grams of heroin in April 2009 upon entering Singapore from Malaysia at Woodlands Checkpoint with a bundle of heroin strapped to his thigh. Nagaenthran confessed to committing the crime, but gave statements claiming that he was ordered to commit the crime out of duress by a mastermind who assaulted him and threatened to kill his girlfriend and his family. He also claimed he did so to get money to pay off his debts before he later denied any knowledge of the contents of his bundle.
Pannir Selvam a/l Pranthaman is a Malaysian drug trafficker who was convicted of trafficking 51.84g of heroin at Woodlands Checkpoint in September 2014. Pannir, who was not certified as a drug courier, was sentenced to death in Singapore for his crime in May 2017. After his appeal was dismissed in February 2018, Pannir and his family submitted various clemency petitions, which were all rejected on 17 May 2019.
Cheong Chun Yin is a Malaysian and former death row convict who is currently serving a life sentence in Singapore for drug trafficking. Cheong and a female accomplice were both convicted of trafficking of 2,726g of heroin into Singapore from Myanmar in 2008, and sentenced to death by hanging in 2010. Cheong submitted multiple unsuccessful appeals against his sentence; his case, similar to Yong Vui Kong's, received much attention in the media, at a time when activists argued for Singapore to abolish the death penalty.
Abdul Kahar bin Othman was a Singaporean drug trafficker who was found guilty in 2013 of two charges of trafficking a total of 66.77 grams of heroin in Singapore, and later sentenced to death by the High Court in February 2015. After the end of his trial, Abdul Kahar tried to appeal the verdict but the courts dismissed his legal challenges and upheld his death sentence.
Norasharee bin Gous was a Singaporean who was found guilty of soliciting a man named Mohamad Yazid Md Yusof to traffic 120.90g of diamorphine (heroin). Upon the courier's arrest on 23 October 2013, Norasharee was not arrested until July 2015, and he was charged with abetting and instigating Yazid to commit drug trafficking. A third co-accused, Kalwant Singh Jogindar Singh, was also arrested on the same date and venue as Yazid and charged in court for drug trafficking.
Kalwant Singh a/l Jogindar Singh was a Malaysian drug trafficker who was found guilty of having 60.15g of diamorphine (heroin) in his possession and trafficking 120.90g of the same substance. Kalwant along with another man named Mohamad Yazid Md Yusof were arrested on 23 October 2013, and the alleged mastermind Norasharee Gous was captured two years later in July 2015, and all three of them were charged with drug trafficking. It was alleged that Norasharee had told Yazid to help import the diamorphine after meeting up with Kalwant, who was to carry the drugs in Singapore to pass on to Yazid for the purpose of trafficking. Kalwant, however, denied that he had knowledge of the drugs and alleged that he was given death threats that forced him to help do the job without knowing it was drugs.
Nazeri bin Lajim, full name Nazeri bin Lajim Hertslet, was a Singaporean drug trafficker. Prior to his arrest in April 2012, Nazeri went to prison several times for drug consumption and several other drug offences, and was said to be addicted to drugs at age 14. Nazeri and his Malaysian accomplice were both brought to trial and found guilty five years later on 8 August 2017.
Life imprisonment is a legal penalty in Singapore. This sentence is applicable for more than forty offences under Singapore law, such as culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempted murder, kidnapping by ransom, criminal breach of trust by a public servant, voluntarily causing grievous hurt with dangerous weapons, and trafficking of firearms, in addition to caning or a fine for certain offences that warrant life imprisonment.
Rozman bin Jusoh was a Malaysian convicted drug trafficker. He and his childhood friend Razali bin Mat Zin were both arrested in Singapore for two separate charges of trafficking 1.04 kg of marijuana and 943.3g of the same substance, as a result of an undercover operation facilitated by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB). It was decreed by Singapore law that trafficking 500g of marijuana or more was punishable by death.
Vignes s/o Mourthi was a Malaysian convicted drug trafficker who was found guilty of trafficking 27.65 grams of diamorphine on 20 September 2001. After the end of his trial in August 2002, Vignes and his accomplice Moorthy a/l Angappan were both sentenced to death since the death penalty was mandatory for the amount trafficked by the duo. Despite the immense evidence against him, Vignes maintained his innocence and appealed many times to overturn his conviction and sentence. Ultimately, Vignes was put to death alongside Moorthy as scheduled on 26 September 2003. His execution remained a controversy even in the aftermath due to his insistent claims of innocence.
Saridewi binte Djamani was a Singaporean who was sentenced to death in 2018 for smuggling 1 kg of drug containing 30.72g of heroin. Saridewi, who committed the offence on 17 June 2016, was arrested on the same day together with her accomplice at her HDB block in Anchorvale Road, Sengkang. Saridewi, who had a long history of drug abuse, did not deny that she sold the drugs but she stated that a majority of the heroin was meant for her own consumption while less than half of the heroin was for sale, and she only stocked up the drug supply for the fasting month Ramadan.
Yen May Woen was a Singaporean hairdresser and drug trafficker. Yen was charged with drug trafficking in May 2002 after she was caught earlier that month for carrying 120 sachets, each containing 30.16g of heroin. Yen claimed that she did not know about the drugs, which were found in a bag she claimed she got from a friend. She was found guilty in March 2003 and sentenced to death upon conviction. Yen appealed to overturn her conviction and death sentence, but it was dismissed, and she was eventually hanged on 19 March 2004. For the next 19 years, Yen remained the last woman to be executed in Singapore before Saridewi Djamani was hanged on 28 July 2023 for drug trafficking.
On 30 May 2006, 46-year-old lorry driver Wan Cheon Kem, who was carrying out his task of delivering 2,700 mobile phones, was attacked by three armed robbers who not only robbed him of the phones, but also assaulted Wan by bludgeoning him on the head at least 15 times with a baseball bat, leading to Wan's death during his hospitalization six days later. The handphone heist, which occurred at Changi Coast Road, was masterminded by Arsan Krishnasamy Govindarajoo, who was informed of Wan's delivery task by Wan's colleague Ragu Ramajayam.