[ad_1]
SINGAPORE: Pending criminal charges against a man who was discovered immobile in Punggol hours after his wife was found stabbed in Tampines were formally killed or dropped on Wednesday (February 17).
A district court dismissed two charges against the man, who died last week at age 45, for violating a personal protection order his wife had against him and for stalking and harassing her.
Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, a court must order the dismissal of all criminal charges or proceedings against a defendant who has died.
The CNA does not name the man or his wife due to restrictions imposed by the Children and Youth Act on the release of information related to investigations or proceedings involving children and youth.
The man had been charged with stalking his wife from Block 204, Tampines Street 21, to a bus stop on Tampines Avenue 7 between 6.30 a.m. and 7 a.m. on April 15 of last year.
He apparently followed her and tried to communicate with her, causing her to be harassed.
At the time of the incident, the man’s wife had a personal protection order against her. The order that had been issued on March 6, 2020 by a judge of the Family Court of Justice. The man allegedly used family violence against her by continually harassing her through stalking, an action he knew would likely cause her distress.
The two charges were dated June 3, 2020. According to court records, additional charges were supposed to be filed on Wednesday, and the defense attorney was to provide his client’s tentative position on whether he would plead guilty or claim a trial.
Instead, the man was found motionless at the foot of Block 205A, Campo Punggol at around 9:10 am on February 10.
A few hours prior to this, around 6.30am, police found a 42-year-old woman injured on the empty deck of Block 206, Tampines Street 21.
She was covered in blood and had cut wounds to her neck, and the man is believed to be her assailant, police said. Both were taken to hospital but subsequently died, and police investigations into their unnatural deaths are ongoing.
The man was out on S $ 10,000 bail for the 2020 charges against his wife when the alleged stabbing occurred. He was represented by Mr. Mohamed Arshad Mohamed Tahir and Anil Singh Sandhu of Kertar & Sandhu LLC.
STARRY LAWYER HEARING WHAT HAPPENED
Mr. Anil Singh told CNA that he was shocked to hear what had happened.
“It took me two, three hours to come to terms with what had happened because I had actually just talked to him,” she said.
“I remember (the) Monday (before the incident) that I just spoke with him and everything was normal, I had been in regular contact with him and this came out of nowhere.”
He added that it was “very graphic” to see the material circulate.
A photo of the woman and an image from an official document, naming the man as the subject in an “Attention Message” for a “stabbing case,” went viral on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.
READ: Public Official Arrested for Leaking Police Surveillance Message About Tampines Stabbing Suspect
Police urged the public not to circulate the images out of respect for the deceased and the families involved. Five days after the leak, a 37-year-old public servant was arrested for improper communication of information under the Official Secrets Act.
He allegedly shared the photo of the police message with a 60-year-old friend and then it was widely shared.
The penalties for improper communication of information under the OSA are a jail term of up to two years and a maximum fine of S $ 2,000.
The punishment for illegal stalking is a jail term of up to one year, a fine of up to S $ 5,000, or both. For violating a protection order, a first-time offender can be jailed for up to six months, fined up to S $ 2,000, or both, while repeat offenders face a maximum year in jail and a fine of up to S $ 5,000.
