MUHAMAD ZULHILMI BIN MOHAMAD SAPARI v PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

Case Significance

Muhamad Zulhilmi bin Mohamad Sapari v Public Prosecutor [2024] SGHC 209 was decided by Kannan Ramesh JAD in the General Division of the High Court on 15 August 2024, in Magistrate's Appeal No 9008 of 2024, with the matter heard on 24 May 2024. This was an appeal by the appellant, Mr Muhamad Zulhilmi Bin Mohamad Sapari, against the sentence imposed by the District Judge in Public Prosecutor v Muhamad Zulhilmi Bin Mohamad Sapari [2024] SGDC 15. Kannan Ramesh JAD dismissed the appeal on 24 May 2024 and delivered brief oral grounds, with these being the detailed grounds of decision.

The appellant, a 26-year-old Singaporean male, pleaded guilty on 17 January 2024 to two charges under the Misuse of Drugs Act (2020 Rev Ed) and one charge under the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958 (2020 Rev Ed), and was convicted on all three charges. He was given a global sentence of five years' and 18 months' imprisonment and nine strokes of the cane, and the District Judge also imposed an enhanced sentence under s 50T(1)(a) of the Prisons Act 1933 (2020 Rev Ed) for the proceeded charges, which totalled 430 days' imprisonment for the enhanced sentences. The catchwords identified the issues as criminal law statutory offences under the Prisons Act, Misuse of Drugs Act and Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act, and criminal procedure and sentencing on appeal; the Civil Defence Act and Criminal Procedure Code were also referenced. The appellant was represented by Ong & Co LLC, with counsel including Wee Hong Shern (Huang Hongsheng), while the Public Prosecutor was represented by the Attorney-General's Chambers, with counsel Tung Shou Pin and Colin Ng Guan Wen.