Man gets jail for pushing drunk stranger into Singapore River; victim later found dead

Man gets jail for pushing drunk stranger into Singapore River; victim later found dead - Redpanda

Man gets jail for pushing drunk stranger into Singapore River; victim later found dead

'SINGAPORE: A man was sentenced to just under three years' jail on Wednesday (Jul 16) for pushing a drunk man, who fell into the Singapore River and drowned. Legha Pawan, a 22-year-old Indian national, was given 35 months' jail. He pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt to Jasbir Singh, 33, where the hurt caused turned out to be grievous hurt in the form of death.' How was it only under 3 years when so much evidence pointed to the fact that he ran off and actively evade the police? I understand there's plenty of factors but it feels like he got off light.

Man gets jail for pushing drunk stranger into Singapore River; victim later found dead

The victim, who had taken to drinking heavily after the death of his mother, fell backwards into the river and drowned.

www.channelnewsasia.com

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Caveat: I am NOT defending this guy. Don’t flame. I am trying to provide the legal reasons why the sentence is what it is. No doubt a lot of people are wondering why the sentence appears to be lenient when the outcome was the death of an innocent party. Several factors to consider from a purely legal perspective. 1. The charge itself has to be something that AGC can prove. If the charge is elevated to something like murder or culpable homicide, then AGC has to prove intention to kill. Given that the two parties did not know each other and the defendant was drunk, it then becomes nearly impossible to prove that burden. Thus, they used the charge which is most likely to stick. 2. In the same vein, if the charge was harsher, it gives the defendant a greater motivation to plead not guilty, fight in court and possibly win. This is because he now has a greater penalty to avoid and also an easier case to win. AGC wanted to create case that would force the defendant to admit guilt and jail. 3. The reason why the charge is not the max of 5 years must also take into account the guilty plea. There has to be an incentive for the perpetrators to admit guilt and show remorse. If there is no difference in the punishment if you plead guilty, then more are likely to plead not guilty, try their luck and even escape conviction. 4. We have to be careful about how we interpret the article, which is written badly. It seems imply the defendant knew he caused someone to fall into the water and ran off when the police came. It is just as possible that he pushed the man in and then walked away not even knowing the man fell in. Again, AGC will have a weak case for deliberate evasion of arrest. 5. We also do not know how the defendant actually reacted after arrest and charges were raised against him. 6. AGC may yet still appeal if needed, say to 4 years instead of 5. 7. If we are not happy with the current set of sentencing guidelines, then we have to speak to our MPs and Ministers to change the law. Until then, the courts have to operate within said guidelines. This is still better than judges ignoring these precedents and boundaries and doing whatever they want, especially since we have heard of Singapore judges giving crazy verdicts before (good grades = high reform potential nonsense).

Thanks for sharing - it is the kind of factual information that is good to see. Are you practicing / in the legal field by any chance?

He wasnt charged for evading arrest. And he had no intent to cause death. Stupid act nonetheless.

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Man gets jail for pushing drunk stranger into Singapore River; victim later found dead