XU YUANCHEN v PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

Facts

Xu Yuanchen was sentenced below to three weeks' imprisonment, which he served. On his appeal, Magistrate's Appeal No 9073 of 2022, the High Court reduced the sentence to a fine of $8,000, with two weeks' imprisonment in default, in Xu Yuanchen v Public Prosecutor and another appeal [2023] SGHC 123.

The parties disagreed on whether the three weeks already served could count against the two-week default term. Otherwise he would still have to pay the fine, face enforcement, or serve two more weeks. The judge issued these brief remarks as an addendum, subject to full grounds if a criminal reference was pursued.

Issues

1. Whether imprisonment already served under the original sentence could be set off against the default term attached to the reduced fine
2. Whether s 6 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 allowed the court to adopt a procedure to achieve that

Holding

The court ruled that the imprisonment previously served was to be treated as going towards the default sentence, and ordered accordingly that nothing remained to be served or paid under the sentence pronounced on appeal.

Reasoning

The Prosecution argued that ss 318 and 319 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 provide no mechanism for backdating a default term. The judge observed that the reduction on appeal would in effect make the punishment harsher, leaving the appellant worse off than if he had lost, and that a default sentence is itself punishment, not merely a spur to payment. A Malaysian authority cited, Irwan bin Abdullah & Ors v Public Prosecutor [2002] 2 MLJ 577, concerned remand and did not assist.

On s 6, which lets the court adopt the procedure justice requires where the Code makes no special provision, the judge found a real and substantial gap and unfairness, rejecting the Prosecution's view that there was none. That the appellant had chosen to serve the original sentence was no answer.

From the judgment