NEWTON DAVID CHRISTOPHER v PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

Case Significance

Newton, David Christopher v Public Prosecutor [2023] SGHC 266 is a reserved judgment of Sundaresh Menon CJ in the General Division of the High Court, delivered on 20 September 2023 in Magistrate's Appeal No 9091 of 2023/01. Mr Newton had pleaded guilty to a single charge of cheating under s 417 read with s 120B of the Penal Code 1871, having conspired to deceive the Health Promotion Board into recording in the National Immunisation Registry that he was fully vaccinated against COVID-19 when he had in fact received saline injections, and was sentenced by District Judge Soh Tze Bian to 16 weeks' imprisonment. On appeal he argued that the DJ's substantial reproduction of the Prosecution's submissions gave rise to a reasonable suspicion of bias and that the sentence was manifestly excessive; the judgment records the court declining to set aside the DJ's decision.