Kalco Law LLC

Legal Consultation Singapore

Kalco Law LLC — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 07:07:23 +0000

The First Step to Navigating Your Legal Challenges

Are you facing a legal issue and wondering where to turn? Arranging a legal consultation is essential for individuals and businesses alike to understand their interests and legal positions. Whether it’s corporate compliance, contractual disputes, employment issues, family disputes or criminal charges – professional legal advice can alleviate your stress when you have clarity on where you stand.

What Does Our Legal Consultation Entail?

When you arrange a legal consultation with us, our qualified legal professionals will assist with the following:

Preliminary assessment your situation, whether personal or commercial.
Elaborate on your rights and obligations under Singapore law.
Provide a roadmap on the procedure and suggest the best course of action: negotiation, litigation, mediation, or alternative dispute resolution.

Why Choose Us for a Legal Consultation

We provide the following::

Credentials and Experience: Being a full-service law practice, we can pull in various experts to address your complex legal issues.
Clarity of Fees: We are transparent with our billing – whether fixed fees or hourly rates.
Communication Skills: We cut through the legal jargon and elicit the relevant details in an easily understandable manner for you.
Reputation and Client Reviews: We are a longstanding law practice with the support of our clients who have entrusted us with their matters.

Benefits of Investing in Legal Consultation Singapore Early

Risk Mitigation: Early advice can prevent disputes, penalties, or operational roadblocks.
Cost Savings: Issues resolved early cost far less than full-blown litigation or regulatory proceedings.
Peace of Mind: Knowing you have professional guidance ensures confidence in your decisions.
Strategic Advantage: In business, legal foresight can be a competitive differentiator.

FAQ: Legal Consultation

Q: Do I need to come into the office for a legal consultation?
A: No. We can arrange for a consultation via Zoom or phone call to suit your convenience.

Q: How long does legal consultation Singapore take?
A: It depends on the issue. Generally, our consultations are no longer than 30 minutes. However,complex disputes may take longer.

Q: Is the first consultation complimentary?
A: Our consultations are complimentary on a discretionary basis

Conclusion

Whenever you’re facing legal uncertainty or want to protect your interests, arrange a legal consultation with us today.

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Singapore High Court sets out the Sentencing Framework for the offence of Distributing Intimate Images or Recordings

OC Dev — Mon, 22 May 2023 01:57:01 +0000

Introduction

The General Division of the Singapore High Court (“High Court”) has, in Public Prosecutor v GED and other appeals [2022] SGHC 301, laid down the sentencing framework that applies to offences under section 377E(1) of the Penal Code, punishable under s 377BE(3) of the Penal Code (herein referred to as the “Distribution Offence”). Such offences, which took effect on 1 Jan 2020, criminalises the actual distribution of intimate images or recordings of another person without consent.

Background

MA 9280

The offender (“GED”) was married to the victim (“V1”). As GED suspected that V1 was having an extramarital affair, he stole V1’s mobile phone to confirm his suspicion. Upon finding several intimate images, GED uploaded them onto Facebook in which both V1 and her supervisor were readily identifiable and another which blurred V1’s face.

GED pleaded guilty to two charges, one of which was for the offence of distributing an intimate recording under s 377BE(1) punishable under s 377BE(3) of the Penal Code for publishing the Facebook Post. For the Distribution Offence, the District Judge sentenced him to 12 weeks imprisonment.

The Prosecution appealed to the High court against his sentence, on the basis it was manifestly inadequate.

MA 9008

The offender (“GEH”) and his wife were undergoing divorce proceedings at the material time. However, GEH suspected that she was having an extramarital affair and followed her when she boarded a car driven by the victim (“V2”). GEH, joined by two others, eventually confronted and attacked V2. While the attack was ongoing, V2’s pants and underwear were pulled down to expose his genitals. GEH then used V2’s mobile phone without his consent to take a video of V2’s injured face and exposed penis at length while insulting him verbally. GEH proceeded to send the video to more than 500 of V2’s contacts via Whatsapp, including V2’s colleagues and friends.

GEH pleaded guilty to three charges, one of which was for the offence of distributing an intimate recording under s 377BE(1) punishable under s 377BE(3) of the Penal Code for sending the video. For that charge, the District Judge arrived at a sentence of 18 months imprisonment.

Both the offender and the Prosecution appealed to the High court against his sentence, on the basis it was manifestly excessive and inadequate respectively.

The High Court’s Decision

Applicable Sentencing Framework

The High Court laid down the sentencing framework for Distribution Offences and adopted a two-stage, five-step sentencing framework, similar to the approach in Logachev Vladislav v Public Prosecutor [2018] 4 SLR 609:

Step 1: Identifying the level of harm and the level of culpability
- The level of harm caused by the offence; and
- The level of culpability

Factors going towards Harm

Objective aspects of harm	Includes (1) the nature of the image or recording1, (2) the degree of identifiability of the victim, and (3) the nature and extent of the distribution². For example, for nature of the image or recording, if it was a recording of the victim engaged in penetrative sexual intercourse while fully nude and with his or her genitalia exposed, this would generally result in higher degree of objective harm. _________ 1 Entails a consideration of (a) what parts of the victim’s body were shown, and how exposed the body parts were (whether bare or covered); (b) what acts were depicted; and (c) the medium used (whether a still image or a video recording). 2 Entails a consideration of (a) how widely the intimate image or recording was distributed; (b) whether the image or recording was distributed to certain recipients known to the victim; and (c) how long the image or recording was left accessible for.
Subjective aspects of harm	Includes any particular aspects of the victim’s suffering that would shed light on the degree of humiliation, alarm or distress subjectively experienced by the victim as a result of the offence, including any impact on the victim’s mental health.
Other related harm	1. Consequential harm which excludes psychological and emotional impacts, such as loss of employment as a result of the offence. 2. Harm that is caused to the victim to obtain the images. For example, physically injuring the victim.
Other factors related to harm	Apart from what is listed above, factors such as vulnerability of the victim, which may arise if the victim is young, has pre-existing mental health conditions, or has a relationship with the offender, may cause the victim to be more susceptible to being manipulated or taken advantage of.

Factors going towards Culpability

Motive for committing the offence	i) Acting for personal gain: An offender who acts out of self-interest, greed, malice or spite , is likely to be regarded as more culpable. If one committed the act due to fear or pressing financial need, the offender may be considered less at fault (Myint v Public Prosecutor [2019] 5 SLR 1005). ii) Acting with the purpose of causing harm: An offender who acted with the knowledge that the distribution will or is likely to cause the victim humiliation, alarm or distress, and for the purpose of harming the victim and/or acted in a calculative manner to inflict such harm is considered more culpable.
Method of obtaining the intimate image or recording	Three stages: (1) Capture of the image or recording, (2) Possession of it, and (3) Distribution. In all of these three stages, consent of the victim is a major component in determining the level of culpability of the offender. The base case is where the image or recording is captured with the victim’s consent, and the victim also consents to the offender being in possession of the same, but the offender then goes on to distribute the image or recording without the victim’s consent. The offender’s culpability would then be aggravated in cases involving departures from this base case.
Other aspects of culpability	Factors such as: Level of planning, preparation and premeditation; Level of sophistication to obtain and distribute the intimate images or recordings; Duration and persistence of the offending behaviour; Abuse in position; Use of anonymity by the offender

Step 2 and 3: Indicative sentencing ranges and starting point

Culpability / Harm	Slight	Moderate	Severe
Low	Fine and/or up to 6 months' imprisonment	6 - 15 months' imprisonment	15 - 30 months' imprisonment (with the option of caning)
Medium	6 - 15 months' imprisonment	15 - 30 months' imprisonment (with the option of caning)	30 - 45 months' imprisonment (with the option of caning)
High	15 - 30 months' imprisonment (with the option of caning)	30 - 45 months' imprisonment (with the option of caning)	45 - 60 months' imprisonment (with the option of caning)

- The court will situate the case within the appropriate cell of the sentencing matrix (see above) and identify the applicable indicative sentencing range. The court will then identify the appropriate starting point within that range, having regard once again to the harm caused by the offence and the offender’s culpability
Step 4: Offender-specific factors
- The court will make adjustments to the starting point based on the certain aggravating and mitigating factors relevant to the offender. Aggravating factors include offences taken into consideration for sentencing and an evident lack of remorse, while mitigating factors include an early plea of guilt and co-operating with the authorities.
Step 5: The totality principle
- The court will make further adjustments to take into account the one-transaction rule and the totality principle.

The imposition of caning is presumptive for certain situations

In relation to the imposing of caning, the High Court opined that caning will presumptively be warranted in certain situations, and highlighted two examples:-

Where images or recordings of bare skin in intimate regions of the victim’s body are captured; and
Where the offender widely disseminates images or recordings depicting the victim’s bare skin in such intimate regions or the victim engaging in a sexual act, and where the victim is identifiable/ identified.

Appellant’s Sentence

Applying the new sentencing framework, the High Court meted out the following sentences in relation to the respective distribution offences:-

	Charge	Original sentence	Sentence on appeal
GED	DAC-904516-2021	12 weeks’ imprisonment	18 months’ imprisonment
GEH	DAC-913704-2020	18 months’ imprisonment	33 months’ imprisonment and two strokes of the cane

Concluding Remarks

If convicted of distributing voyeuristic or intimate images/ recordings , you can be sentenced for up to two years imprisonment, or a fine, or caning, or any combination. Where the victim is younger than 14 years old, imprisonment is mandatory. Threats of distributing such images/ recordings are also criminalised. However, the High Court expressly declined to make a determination on whether the new sentencing framework should apply to such threats. It remains to be seen how the court views such threats to distribute in comparison to actual distribution, and how it affects the application of the new sentencing framework. Notably, the High Court observed that the harm and culpability involved in a case of threatened distribution may be similar to, or even greater than, in a case of actual distribution. In other words, neither offence is inherently or invariably more or less serious than the other.

For any queries regarding this case note, or to seek a free consultation with our firm’s specialist criminal defence team for any legal matters, feel free to reach out to us at our firm’s website.

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Singapore High Court Clarifies the Sentencing Regime for Sexual Offences Under Sections 376 and 376A of Penal Code

OC Dev — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 09:36:17 +0000

Introduction

The General Division of the Singapore High Court (“High Court”) has, in ABC v Public Prosecutor [2022] SGHC 244, clarified the sentencing framework that applies to sexual offences under section 376(3) and section 376A(3) of the Penal Code after amendments were made to these sections with effect from 2020.

Background

The appellant (28 y/o) met the victim (13 y/o) in early 2020. Parties entered into a relationship, which eventually became sexual in nature. On more than one occasion, the appellant had penetrated the victim’s vagina with his finger(s) with her consent. However, the victim was 13 years old at the material time.

The appellant pleaded guilty before a District Judge to one charge of Sexual Assault by Penetration under section 376(3) of the Penal Code for sexually assaulting a victim under 14. The District Judge applied the sentencing regime under Pram Nair v Public Prosecutor [2017] 2 SLR 1015 (“Pram Nair”) in arriving at a sentence of 6 years and 3 strokes of the cane.

The appellant appealed to the High Court against his sentence on the basis that it was manifestly excessive.

The Issue

The Singapore Court of Appeal previously set out that for offences under section 376, the sentencing regime that applied was that in Pram Nair.

Sentencing Bands under Pram Nair
Band 1	7 – 10 years’ imprisonment; 4 strokes	An offence falls within Band 1 if there are no offence-specific aggravating factors or where the factor(s) are only present to a very limited extent and therefore should have a limited impact on the sentence.
Band 2	10 – 15 years’ imprisonment; 8 strokes	An offence falls within Band 2 if there are 2 or more offence-specific aggravating factors. Cases which contain any of the statutory aggravating factors under s 376(4) will almost invariably fall within Band 2.
Band 3	15 – 20 years’ imprisonment; 12 strokes	An offence falls within Band 3 where the number and intensity of the aggravating factors present an extremely serious case of sexual assault.

However, given that the case of Pram Nair involved sexual assault by penetration of an adult who did not consent and had been decided prior to the amendments to section 376 of the Penal Code under the Criminal Law Reform Act (No. 15 of 2019), it was unclear whether the sentencing regime under Pram Nair applied to offences involving a victim under 14 years old who did consent, even if it was punishable under the same section.

The crux of the issue in the present appeal was whether the sentencing regime under Pram Nair applied to offences under s 376(3) of the Penal Code involving a victim under 14 years old who consented to the sexual penetration. Put differently, the issue was whether consent was a relevant factor in determining the appropriate sentence to be imposed for offences under s 376(3) of the Penal Code.

The High Court’s Decision

Consent of a Minor

The High Court affirmed that the sentencing regime under Pram Nair did apply to offences under s 376(3) of the Penal Code involving a victim under 14 years old who consented to the sexual penetration. The High Court pronounced that whether consent was obtained from a victim under 14 years old is irrelevant, though the lack of consent will aggravate the offence. Accordingly, the lack of consent would necessarily lead to the offender being dealt with under the more serious provision of section 376(4) which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 8 years’ imprisonment with 12 strokes of the cane.

While the case of Pram Nair was formulated in the context of an adult victim who did not consent, the High Court set out clearly that the same sentencing regime applies also to a case of a victim below the age of 14 who did consent.

The High Court also clarified that the same sentencing regime applies to an offence under sections 376(3) and 376A(3) of the Penal Code.

Appellant’s Sentence

Notwithstanding the High Court’s holding that the District Judge had correctly applied Pram Nair’s sentencing framework in the present case, the High Court nonetheless allowed the appeal and reduced the appellant’s sentence on the basis of the doctrine of prospective overruling.

The High Court found it appropriate to invoke the doctrine of prospective overruling in the present case for the following reasons at [59] to [63]:

This was the first instance that the High Court had clarified that the sentencing regime under Pram Nair applies in a case where a victim below the age of 14 who did consent.
The High Court found that the approach in past cases were wrong. Past cases did not apply the sentencing regime under Pram Nair. Low sentences (typically less than 4 months) were meted out for past cases involving offences where the victims were under the age of 14 who did consent
There was a significant difference between the sentencing position of past cases and the newly pronounced position under the sentencing regime of Pram Nair.

As such, the High Court found that it was appropriate to invoke the doctrine of prospective overruling, allowed the appeal and reduced the appellant’s sentence from six years three strokes to three years no strokes.

Concluding Remarks

For sexual offences (such as rape, sexual assault by penetration, sexual assault involving penetration, and sexual penetration of a minor), the Singapore Courts have increasingly turned to developing and applying sentencing frameworks, as well as the standardisation of sentencing regimes across the board.

This judgment has made clear that the Pram Nair sentencing framework applies not only to offences involving minors under 14 who did consent, but also to minors between 14 and 16 who did not consent, and to victims above 16 (including adult victims) who did not consent.

This is a welcomed clarification, as it promotes consistency in sentencing which, as a key facet of proportionality, is rooted in the right of equal protection of the law to offenders of equal or similar culpability.

As the legislative amendments and certain nuances in the law may not be easily noticed, it can be difficult for the general public to understand whether the sentences being meted out are proportional and justifiable.

For any queries regarding this case note, or to seek a free consultation with our team for any legal matters, feel free to reach out to us at our firm’s website.

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Joshua Tong Quoted in Straits Times: “Legally challenging to deal with sexual assault in virtual reality, say lawyers”

Kalco Law LLC — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 04:53:59 +0000

On 2 August 2022, The Straits Times interviewed Kalco Law LLC Senior Associate, Joshua Tong, in an article revolving around the question on whether current laws extend to sexual crimes in the virtual space.

Author David Sun explores these legal difficulties in the novel nature of virtual spaces as unlike the real world where the alleged perpetrators and victims are clear, the question of who the offenders and victims are in virtual realities (“VR”) can be debatable.

In a hypothetical question of whether molestation within the VR would be made out as an offence as provided under the Penal Code, Joshua offers that “the mere fact the victim’s sense of feeling is affected through the VR’s immersive experience is not sufficient” given how molestation under the Penal Code has an element of criminal force which requires physical contact with the victim’s body, clothes or accessories.

Joshua offered that “whether such forms of harassment should be punished with equal severity using the criminal justice system is a far more complex question. It would require extensive consultation and debate before a decision is reached, given the fact that the two situations are, on the surface, not identical.”

While it may be possible to deal with acts such as the above via a harassment claim under Protection of Harassment Act (“POHA”) for example, Joshua notes that it may not be sufficient for victims particularly “if one is of the view they have been sexually assaulted, a harassment claim may not give these individuals the redress they feel they deserve, especially given the fact that the penalties for harassment claims are a lot lighter as compared to the sentences for sexual offences.”

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Offence of Corruption (Penalties, Presumptions and Defences)

Kalco Law LLC — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 09:04:16 +0000

What amounts to corruption?

In Singapore, the offence of corruption is set out in Sections 5 and 6 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (“PCA”). Section 5 deals with general cases while Section 6 applies to agents who commit corruption in respect of their principal’s affairs.

For the Prosecution to prove an offence of corruption, the following 4 elements must be shown:

The offender gave or received gratification (e.g. money, loan, employment, sexual services);
The gratification was an inducement or reward for any act/favour/disfavour;
There was an objectively corrupt/dishonest element in the transaction; and
The offender gave or accepted the gratification with guilty knowledge.

When charged with corruption, the following do not count as valid defences:

“I did not in fact show favour to the giver of the bribe.”
“I did not have the opportunity/power to show favour to the giver of the bribe.”

Possible defences:

“The gratification was purely a gift that was given/received without any expected favour in return.”
“I was not being dishonest and was authorised by my supervisor to enter into the transaction.”

Presumptions:

If the recipient of any gratification is a government officer or agent, it is presumed that such gratification was given or received corruptly as an inducement or reward. The burden would then be on the accused person to prove otherwise.

What are the different offences for corruption?

Offence	Provision	Additional elements to be proven	Prescribed punishment
Offence	Section 5 of the PCA	-	Fine up to $100,000, or imprisonment up to 5 years, or both.
Offence	Section 6 of the PCA	Gratification is made to an agent as an inducement or reward in relation to his principal’s affairs.	Fine up to $100,000, or imprisonment up to 5 years, or both.
Offence	Sections 7 and 12 of the PCA	• Gratification is made as an inducement or reward in relation to a public or government contract; or • Gratification is made to a member of a public body as an inducement or reward in relation to his public office or powers.	Fine up to $100,000, or imprisonment up to 7 years, or both.

What penalties can one expect for corruption?

Due to the fact-sensitive nature of corruption cases, courts have adopted a robust 5-step approach in sentencing offenders. At the first step, courts will refer to the following table to identify the relevant factors that go towards harm and culpability:

Factors going towards harm	Factors going towards culpability
• Actual loss caused to principal. • Benefit to the giver of gratification. • Harm caused to the giver of gratification. • Type and extent of loss to third parties. • Public disquiet. • Offences committed as part of a group or syndicate. • Involvement of a transnational element. • Amount or value of gratification given or received.	• Degree of planning and premeditation. • Level of sophistication. • Duration of offending. • Extent of the offender’s abuse of position and breach of trust. • Offender’s motive in committing the offence. • The presence of threats, pressure or coercion. • Amount or value of gratification given or received.

At the second and third step, courts will decide what is the level of harm and culpability, before identifying a “starting point” sentence with reference to the following diagrams:

For purely private sector corruption, with/without agent (PCA Sections 5 and 6):

[table “” not found /]

For public sector corruption (PCA Sections 7 and 12):

[table “” not found /]

Finally, at the fourth and fifth step, courts will adjust the sentence according to the following offender-specific factors and ensure that the total sentence is proportionate to the seriousness of the offender’s offences:

Aggravating factors	Mitigating factors
a. Offences taken into consideration for sentencing purposes. b. Relevant antecedents. c. Evident lack of remorse.	a. A guilty plea. b. Co-operation with the authorities. c. Actions taken to minimise harm to victims.

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I have been asked to take a urine/blood test. Can I refuse to do so?

Kalco Law LLC — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 10:01:32 +0000

No.

Blood Tests

Under Section 13 of the Intoxicating Substances Act, any officer of the Bureau may require any person to provide a blood sample for a blood test if he has used or inhaled, or is reasonably suspected of having used or inhaled, any intoxicating substance for the purpose of inducing or causing a state of intoxication.

Anyone who without reasonable excuse fails to provide a specimen of his blood for a laboratory test is found to have committed an offence under Section 13 of the Intoxicating Substances Act.

The penalty is a fine not exceeding $2,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months.

Urine Tests

Under Section 31(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA), any officer of the Bureau may require any person who he reasonably suspects to have smoked, administered to himself or otherwise consumed a controlled or specified drug to provide specimens of his urine for a urine test.

Anyone who without reasonable excuse fails to provide a specimen of his urine for a urine test is found to have committed an offence under Section 31(2) of the MDA.

The penalty for this is a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment or a fine of $20,000 or both.

What effect will my Blood Test/ Urine Test have on my drug offence(s)?

Presumption of misuse of intoxicating substances: Under Section 14 of the Intoxicating Substances Act, if you are proven through a blood test to contain an amount of any chemical compound over the amount specified, you shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have used or inhaled any intoxicating substance for the purpose of inducing or causing in himself a state of intoxication.

Presumption relating to urine test: Under Section 22 of the MDA, if any controlled drug is found in a person’s urine, he shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, to have smoked, consumed or administered to himself that controlled drug.

Conclusion

It is clear that Singapore takes an extremely strict stance on drug and substance abuse. The above summary of 6 types of drug related offences and the range of penalties should provide sufficient insight on what to expect if you are found guilty of such offences. Do note that the presumptions under each offence apply automatically until the contrary is proven.

Read more about Drug Offences in our other article.

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Drug Offences in Singapore

Kalco Law LLC — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 08:22:34 +0000

What Drug Offences are there in Singapore?

In Singapore, the list of controlled drugs and inhalants can be found under the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) and Intoxicating Substances Act (INSA).

The list includes:

• Buprenorphine (Subutex, Tec, Su su)
• BZP and TFMPP (Party Pills)
• Cannabis (Marijuana, Pot, Grass, Joints, Weed, Ganja, Hashish)
• Cocaine (Crack, Coke, Snow)
• Ecstasy (MDMA, MDEA, MDA)
• Heroin (White, Smack, Junk, Powder, Putih, Ubat)
• Inhalants (Glue-sniffing, Solvent abuse, Solvent inhalation, Solvent Sniffing)

• Ketamine (K, Special K)
• Kratom
• Lysergide (LSD, Acid, Trips, Stamp, Tabs)
• Mephedrone (Bubbles, Mcat, Snow and Meow)
• Methamphetamine (Ice, Glass, Crystal, Quartz, Yaba, Sybu, Hirropon)
• New Psychoactive Substances (NPS)
• Nimetazepam

Main Drug Offences in Singapore:

Drug Trafficking
Drug Possession
Drug Consumption
Possession of Utensils
Inhaling Intoxicating Substances
Offering to or Supplying Intoxicating Substances

Offences for Drug Trafficking

Anyone found involved in selling, giving, administering, transporting, delivering or distributing a controlled drug commits an offence of trafficking under Section 5 of the MDA. In addition, simply offering to traffic and to do/ offer to do any act in preparation of trafficking a controlled drug also constitutes an offence under Section 5.

(Note: It is also an offence under Section 7 of the MDA to import or export controlled drugs.)

The penalty for drug trafficking largely depends on the class (Class A, B, C) and quantity of drugs trafficked. The range of penalties can be found at the Second Schedule of the MDA.

Presumptions for drug trafficking

Under Section 17 of the MDA, you are automatically presumed to be trafficking in drugs if you are found in possession of the following amounts:

100 grammes of opium;
3 grammes of morphine;
2 grammes of diamorphine;
15 grammes of cannabis;
30 grammes of cannabis mixture;
10 grammes of cannabis resin;
3 grammes of cocaine;
25 grammes of methamphetamine;
113 grammes of ketamine; or
10 grammes of any or any combination of the following:
- N, α-dimethyl-3,4-(methylenedioxy)phenethylamine;
- α-methyl-3,4-(methylenedioxy)phenethylamine; or
- N-ethyl-α-methyl-3,4-(methylenedioxy)phenethylamine

Is there a death penalty?

Yes. Several trafficking offences under the MDA carry a mandatory death penalty.

Anyone found guilty of such offences may be able to avoid the mandatory death penalty if it can be proven that they were only couriers. In addition to that, they must have either helped the Central Narcotics Bureau in some substantive way or be suffering from a mental disability.

In such cases, the drug trafficker would instead be sentenced to life imprisonment and caned not less than 15 strokes.

Offence for Drug Possession

Anyone found to possess a controlled drug is found to have committed an offence under Section 8(a) of the MDA.

The penalty for this offence is a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment or a fine of $20,000 or both.

Presumption of drug possession: Under Section 18 of the MDA, if you are found with drugs contained inside something you own (e.g. backpack), inside your home or an item or place that you have keys to (e.g. locker), you are automatically presumed to be in possession of drugs and to have known that it was a prohibited drug unless proven otherwise.

Offence for Drug Consumption

Anyone found to have smoked, consumed or administered to himself a controlled or specified drug is found to have committed an offence under Section 8(b) of the MDA.

(Note: Specified drugs refer to certain controlled drugs that are listed separately in the Fourth Schedule of the MDA)

The penalty for this offence is imprisonment of not less than 1 year but not more than 10 years, and a fine not exceeding $20,000.

What if I am a repeat drug offender?

If you are a repeat offender, (i.e. previously been admitted into an institution or convicted for a drug related offence), the penalty for consuming a controlled drug is imprisonment of at least 3 years. Depending on the nature of your previous conviction and the number of such previous convictions, you may be subject to mandatory minimum imprisonment of at least 5 or 7 years and given a minimum of 3 or 6 strokes of the cane.

What if I consumed the drugs outside Singapore?

Any Singaporean or Singapore Permanent Resident found to have smoked, administered to himself or otherwise consumed drugs outside Singapore would be dealt with as if that offence had been committed within Singapore.

Possession of Drugs Utensils

Anyone possessing any pipe, syringe, utensil, apparatus or other article intended for the smoking, administration or consumption of a controlled drug has committed an offence under Section 9 of the MDA. It does not matter whether they had consumed any controlled drugs or had any on them in the first place.

The penalty for this offence is imprisonment for a maximum of 3 years or a fine of $10,000 or both.

Presumption of premises: Under Section 19 of the MDA, where a utensil of such nature is found in any premises, it is presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the premises were used for the purpose of smoking, administering, or consuming a controlled drug.

Presumption of persons in such premises: Also, under Section 19 of the MDA, anyone found inside or escaping from any place used (or presumed to be used) for the purpose of smoking or administering a controlled drug will be presumed to have been smoking or administering a controlled drug in that place or premises, unless proven otherwise.

Offences for Inhaling intoxicating substances

Anyone who uses or inhales any intoxicating substance for the purpose of inducing or causing in himself a state of intoxication, has committed an offence under Section 3 of the Intoxicating Substances Act.

The penalty for this offence is admission to an approved centre for treatment and rehabilitation for up to 6 months, or up to 6 months of imprisonment or S$2,000 fine or both.

Presumption of misuse of intoxicating substances: Under Section 14 of the Intoxicating Substances Act, where the blood test results reveal any chemical compound with an amount that is over the specified limit, it will be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that you have used or inhaled any intoxicating substance for the purpose of inducing or causing a state of intoxication.

Offence for Supplying or offering to supply intoxicating substances

A person is found to have committed an offence under Section 4 of the Intoxicating Substances Act if he is found selling, supplying, or offerings to sell or offerings to supply an intoxicating substance to any person. The offender also has to know or believe that the intoxicating substance is, or its fumes are, likely to be used or inhaled by the other party to for the purpose of inducing or causing a state of intoxication in himself.

The penalty for this offence is a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.

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How much would it cost for a lawyer to defend me?

Kalco Law LLC — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 07:53:36 +0000

There are firms that quote a fixed fee for certain types of cases. However, we do not share that practice because each case has different charges and different number of charges. It would be helpful to know what your options are and based on the option that you decide to take we would be able to better inform you of the legal fees that you are looking at.

We don’t wish to short change you by only doing your defense up to a certain amount. If we decide to take on your case and defend you, you can trust that we will be with you all the way and that we would be reasonable in our fees as well.

Our first consultations are free and that’s where we assess your charges and matter so don’t worry and schedule a consultation session with us and we can take it from there.

If you require more information that are not listed in our articles, or legal advice on a specific matter, please contact us for a free first consultation.

The post How much would it cost for a lawyer to defend me? appeared first on Kalco Law LLC.

What happens after I plead guilty?

Kalco Law LLC — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 07:53:15 +0000

If the accused indicates to the court that he wishes to plead guilty, a court date will be fixed for him to do so. Prior to indicating that he would be pleading guilty, the accused and/or his lawyers may write to the AGC (known as a letter of representations) with one or more of the following requests (this list is non-exhaustive):

For certain charges to be withdrawn (because the elements of the offence are not made out);
For certain charges to be reduced from a more serious charge to a less serious one;
For the Prosecution to only proceed on a smaller number of charges, and apply to have the remaining charges taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing; or
For the Prosecution not to object to the Defence’s position on sentence.

The Prosecution may extend to an accused person a plea offer. This would usually involve either a reduction of some or all the charges against the accused, or to proceed on a smaller number of charges instead.

Having these charges reduced to a less serious one may help an accused person avoid these mandatory minimum sentences. It is therefore important to secure as favourable a plea offer as possible before pleading guilty to the charges. It is recommended that you engage a lawyer for such matters as they would have sufficient experience to advise you if a plea offer is favourable to you or to work on your defence to ensure that you get an acceptable and reasonable conviction.

If you require more information that are not listed in our articles, or legal advice on a specific matter, please contact us for a free first consultation.

The post What happens after I plead guilty? appeared first on Kalco Law LLC.

I received a stern warning or conditional warning. What does it mean and what happens to me?

Kalco Law LLC — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 07:52:55 +0000

A stern or conditional warning is of no legal effect, as it is merely a statement by the authorities that they are of the view that an offence has been committed. It does not form part of a suspect’s criminal record.

Therefore, while the Attorney General Chambers may consider a previous issuance of a stern or conditional warning in determining whether to charge a suspect who has reoffended, it cannot be raised as an aggravating factor during sentencing.

If you require more information that are not listed in our articles, or legal advice on a specific matter, please contact us for a free first consultation.

The post I received a stern warning or conditional warning. What does it mean and what happens to me? appeared first on Kalco Law LLC.