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Jean Iau
The times of the strait
September 2, 2020
The State Courts apologized to a truck driver after an administrative error forced him to remain in jail for two more days for a fine that he had paid and that was not recorded.
Mr. Teo Seng Tiong, 59, was sentenced on January 14 to seven weeks in jail and a $ 500 fine for diverting his truck towards a bicyclist and failing to file a police report within 24 hours of the accident.
State courts said in a statement on Wednesday (September 2) that Mr. Teo’s appeal was dismissed by the Superior Court in July and that he paid the fine and began serving his sentence on July 20.
Despite the Superior Court notifying the state courts that the fine had been paid, the state court officer handling the case did not update the state court case management system to reflect this.
On August 21 and 22, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) checked with the state courts whether the fine had been paid and, due to the above error, the state courts informed the SPS that the fine had not been paid.
As a result, Teo ended up staying in jail longer than he should. During sentencing, he was told that if he couldn’t pay the fine, he would have to serve another three days behind bars.
“The state courts deeply regret what happened and we have transmitted our letter of apology to Mr. Teo through the Attorney General’s Office.
“When the error was discovered, the state courts took immediate action to review our work processes governing fines for state court cases that have been appealed to the Superior Court,” the state courts said in the statement.
It added that it has since implemented more safeguards, such as additional levels of controls, and has begun an internal review of the matter.
“Depending on the outcome of the review, appropriate action (including disciplinary action) will be taken.”
The error was only discovered when Mr. Teo’s attorney, Tan Hee Joek, sent a receipt for the fine payment to SPS.
Mr. Teo was released on August 24 in the morning, with a third of the three days in jail in lieu of the fine sent.
Tan said his client is grateful to the courts for quickly clarifying why he had wrongly served two additional days in jail.
He added: “Those extra two days were especially agonizing for him as he lived in uncertainty and fear in a small cell for four.
“He is confident that the authorities will soon begin to dialogue with us about how Mr. Teo can be adequately compensated to bring this unfortunate episode to a timely end.”
The $ 500 fine Teo paid has not been refunded.
Attorneys The Straits Times spoke with pointed to the rarity of such mistakes.
In 2007, a man convicted of instigating a loan shark to harass a debtor was whipped three times more than he was convicted after a court clerk incorrectly recorded the sentence. Compensation was paid after the man reached an agreement with the government.
Criminal lawyer Sunil Sudheesan said such mistakes are “very rare.” “The defendant would have told the prisons that he paid the fine and it was a shame that no more controls were carried out.”
Veteran lawyer Amolat Singh agreed that these are “very rare cases.” “The fact is, he lost his freedoms for two days … I’m sure the defense attorney will seek compensation. It is difficult to quantify because it is a private matter between Mr. Teo and AGC. “
Similarly, attorney Josephus Tan said: “As the saying goes ‘one day in jail is one day too many.’ Previous cases had been settled with undisclosed amounts of compensation and I think the current case would be no different. “
Furthermore, the apology of the courts should not be interpreted negatively, said Mr. Shashi Nathan. “It shows that the court is transparent and independent in the way it views cases and takes these mistakes seriously,” he said.
Mr. Teo was found guilty of injuring cyclist Eric Cheung Hoyu. In addition to jail time, he was also disqualified from holding or obtaining all kinds of driver’s licenses for two years.
The accident occurred just before noon on December 22, 2018, at the intersection of Pasir Ris Drive 3 and Pasir Ris Rise. In a viral video of the incident, Cheung is seen hitting the left side mirror of Teo’s truck.
Then the truck suddenly veered to the left towards Mr. Cheung, who fell off his bike on the edge of the grass on the side of the road.
On April 12 of last year, Cheung was fined $ 2,800 for mischief and obstruction.
