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SINGAPORE: A man who attacked passers-by and was shot by the police after charging at them had his jail term cut from 33 months to 27 months on Monday (Jul 31), with the Chief Justice attributing the decision mainly to the man’s multiple mental conditions.

In reducing 50-year-old Soo Cheow Wee’s sentence, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon also laid out the principles that would help a court sentence an offender with multiple mental conditions, and stressed the importance of psychiatric evidence.

Soo had pleaded guilty in September 2022 to four charges, which include voluntarily causing hurt by using a cutting instrument, criminal intimidation and causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty. 

He had taken cough syrup and diazepam – a drug for anxiety and alcohol withdrawal – without prescriptions, before loitering along a pavement in Clementi with a knife.

Soo slashed a passer-by and flagged a taxi, asking to be taken to Clementi Police Division. He tried to alight while the cab was moving and charged at the taxi driver, who alerted the police.

When the police arrived, Soo suddenly charged at one of the officers, prompting the latter to fire a round from his service revolver.

Soo fell down and was taken to hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

It is accepted by both sides that Soo was experiencing an episode of psychosis when he committed the offences.

Even at the lower court, the judge had said he was “troubled” by Soo’s situation which he said was “a little bit” unique, as Soo had a mental condition that was triggered by what he consumed.

Defence lawyer Chooi Jing Yen said his client had been trying to avoid drugs and had wanted to be taken to the police station.

After Soo received the sentence of 33 months’ jail, he turned to the High Court to appeal for a lower sentence of not more than 23 months. 

The prosecution was also dissatisfied with the jail term, appealing instead for it to be replaced by at least five years’ corrective training or a jail term of between 57 and 63 months.

Corrective training is a prison regime for repeat offenders without the usual one-third remission for good behaviour.

The Chief Justice, who heard the appeal, dismissed the prosecution’s application and reduced Soo’s jail term by six months, mainly because the district judge had not placed any weight on Soo’s mental conditions in calibrating his sentence.

Soo was represented by lawyers Chooi Jing Yen and Ng Yuan Siang from Eugene Thuraisingam’s law firm in his appeal.

HIS MENTAL CONDITIONS

Chief Justice Menon said Soo suffers from at least three mental conditions: Schizophrenia, polysubstance dependence and psychosis that is believed to be triggered by the substance abuse and which caused auditory hallucinations and persecutory delusions.

While the prosecution had argued that Soo had voluntarily ingested the drugs knowing that it would trigger his psychosis, the Chief Justice said there was no information in either the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) reports nor Corrective Training report that shed light on whether Soo knew that substance abuse would trigger his psychosis.

Because there was no evidence to show that Soo chose to ingest substances knowing they would result in violent psychotic behaviour, the judge took Soo’s mental condition as a mitigating factor instead of an aggravating one.

“To put it simply, I found it unrealistic, on the evidence before me, to approach this case disregarding the appellant’s medical conditions and sentencing him as though he was an ordinary mentally fit person, which is how the prosecution and the district judge appear to have approached sentencing in this case,” said the Chief Justice.

He pointed out that the psychiatric evidence available to him was inadequate, resulting in certain issues not being more thoroughly addressed.

The gaps in information arose because the IMH reports were prepared “for some other purpose, and not to aid the sentencing court”. Instead, they pertain to Soo’s fitness to stand trial.

“I was also troubled by the fact that the (corrective training) report appeared to suggest that the appellant experienced psychotic episodes in prison, where the appellant could not possibly have had access to intoxicating substances,” said the judge. “However, this too was not addressed in the psychiatric evidence.”

PRINCIPLES WHEN SENTENCING OFFENDER WITH MULTIPLE MENTAL CONDITIONS

In the judgment, the Chief Justice set out for the first time principles to guide a court that is sentencing an offender with multiple mental conditions.

He said the sentencing of a mentally disordered offender often requires the court to “contend with sentencing objectives that may pull in opposite directions, with some emphasising the need to protect society and others, the importance of rehabilitating the offender where feasible”.

The facts a court should consider include: The existence, nature and severity of each mental condition, the synergistic manner in which different conditions may “come together and operate on the accused person’s mind”, whether a causal link can be established between the conditions and the offence, whether the offender knew about his mental conditions and their effects, and whether the overall circumstances diminish the offender’s culpability.

The Chief Justice also listed some questions that should be addressed in a psychiatric report on an offender’s mental condition.

These include whether an offender could have prevented the onset of the symptoms leading to the commission of an offence, whether he could have exercised control over his actions at the time of the offence and whether the mental condition could be treated or controlled.

The Chief Justice said that if an offender embarks on a course of actions that makes him more susceptible to the symptoms of his mental conditions surfacing despite knowing about his conditions and their effects, his “self-induced condition” will not be a mitigating factor.

However, if he is unaware or lacks sufficient understanding of the effect that intoxication or substance abuse might have in precipitating symptoms of his conditions, then his consumption of alcohol or other substances may not be treated as an aggravating factor.

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SINGAPORE: An ambulance simulator, a recreation of the environment of a hospital’s emergency department, and rooms using mixed reality technology to simulate actual incidents: These were all part of a new facility unveiled by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) at its annual workplan seminar on Monday (Jul 31).

Situated within the Singapore Civil Defence Academy, the National Emergency Medical Service Training Centre (NETC) aims to replicate the operational environment of an ambulance call, said SCDF and the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) in a media factsheet.

The facility was developed by the SCDF with support from HTX.

Along with the NETC, the SCDF also unveiled a new fire research centre and a mixed-use training premises. These marked the completion of the second phase of the Civil Defence Academy’s field training area’s redevelopment.

The project comprises three main phases. In the first, SCDF introduced at last year’s workplace seminar a new training facility with five laboratories to enhance emergency responders’ physical and mental performance.

Phase three will involve the remodelling of its existing furnace building, Civil Defence Academy director and Assistant Commissioner Alan Chow told reporters during a media visit on Friday.

“Phase two looks at elevating … Emergency Medical Services training, fire and rescue skillsets training and developing new capabilities in terms of fire science and research,” he said.

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Apart from the flag, the national pledge, the national flower Vanda Miss Joaquim, the lion head symbol and the public seal – which is affixed to important documents of state – will also now be recognised as national symbols.

In addition, three presidential symbols – the presidential standard, presidential crest and presidential seal – will be given statutory recognition and protection.

Among the four newly recognised national symbols, the national pledge and public seal will come under statutory safeguards. No new regulations are intended for the national flower or lion head symbol.

Under the new rules, a person must not make a musical record that includes a rearrangement of the national anthem that contravenes the regulations. Additionally, using the national anthem commercially will require permission from the Minister.

Likewise, the national pledge should not be used for commercial purposes unless permission is given by the Minister. When the national pledge is taken, it must always be recited in full.

As for the use of the state crest, an individual must not knowingly make or deal in a copy of the crest or cause a copy of the state crest to be made or dealt in.

This does not apply to anything done by a government department, with the approval of the Minister, for the purposes of reporting news, or anything done incidentally to an act that is otherwise lawful and without causing disrespect to the state crest. A distorted reproduction of the state crest must also not be knowingly made, used or displayed.

The public seal, which is also recognised as a national symbol, may only be affixed by or with the authority of the President or as required or permitted by law.

In addition, the use of presidential symbols will now also be regulated. The presidential standard – a red flag with a white crescent moon and five stars emblazoned in the centre – may only be flown, displayed or otherwise used by or with the authority of the President.

The seal of the President may only be affixed by or with the authority of the President.  

An individual not knowingly make or deal in a copy of the presidential coat of arms or cause a copy of the coat of arms to be made or dealt in. They must also not knowingly make, use or display a distorted reproduction of the coat of arms.

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