We all know not to play when it comes to the law in Singapore – even more so for our police officers who are held to high standards to uphold and observe it.
But one of them probably got too carried away with watching police dramas that had bad-tempered officers doing what they saw fit to suspects upon their arrest.
On 18 March, a 35-year-old Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officer was found guilty of kicking, slapping, and punching a drug suspect in a toilet located at Woodlands Checkpoint. The incident happened on 2 January 2017 when the drug suspect was found to be in the possession of controlled drugs hidden in a raincoat bag.
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What Happened At Woodlands Checkpoint
The drug suspect, Sivabalan Janniappan, was first detained at Woodlands Checkpoint by another CNB officer after the discovery of the concealed drugs.
Sivabalan did not struggle against his detainment and in fact, co-operated by giving his statement to the CNB officers at 4:15am. During this process, Sivabalan did not admit his guilt in possessing controlled drugs.
It was later on nearing 6:00am that the accused officer, Vengedesh Raj Nainar Nagarajan, and his team arrived at the Woodlands Checkpoint office. Vengedesh’s team was on standby. At the time of the incident, Vengedesh held the rank of corporal. According to Sivabalan, when he first went near Vengedesh, he noted the accused CNB officer smelled like alcohol.
Details of CNB Officer’s Assaults On the Drug Suspect
Vengedesh’s assault on Sivabalan occurred on three separate occasions. Court documents showed that Sivabalan was beat up by Vengedesh between 5:58am and 6:14am, between 8:35am and 8:43am, and between 9:28am and 9:30am in the toilet of the CNB office located at Woodlands Checkpoint.
During the first instance of the assault, Vengedesh had slapped Sivabalan’s head, punched his arm, slapped his face and kicked his knee. According to Sivabalan, he had cried for Vengedesh to stop and did not fight back to defend himself. Instead, the attacks led to Sivabalan admission to bringing drugs into Singapore.
(Just remember, in real life it’s illegal for officers to get a confession via coercion yeah?)
Meanwhile, another escorting officer was occupied as he was focused on gathering evidence from Sivabalan’s mobile phone.
How the Assaults Were Discovered
After Sivabalan’s arrest, doctors examined him on the same evening when the assaults happened. CNB began their internal investigation too when Sivabalan made his allegations against Vengedesh and his assaults on him.
Sivabalan has since been convicted and sentenced to 15 years’ jail plus 13 strokes of the cane for bringing in and possessing controlled drugs.
During the trial, evidence from Staff Sergeant Mohammad Adli Mohamed Nawar also played a key part in convicting Vengedesh.
The staff sergeant had escorted Sivabalan on two occasions and witnessed one occasion of Vengedesh’s assaults against Sivabalan. District Judge Selina who was in charge of the trial found the staff sergeant’s accounts to be credible and was satisfied with his explanation of any discrepancies in his evidence.
Sivabalan had also provided a clear recall of the incident which also matched the evidence provided by Staff Sergeant Adli, the gathered medical evidence, and the closed-circuit television footage.
Vengedesh’s Defence and Other Troubles with the Law
On the contrary, the district judge found that evidence provided by Vengedesh was inconsistent and he was “deliberately invasive” during his cross-examination.
This was why the district judge ended up dismissing the defence’s argument that Vengedesh was merely questioning Sivabalan in a “robust and stern manner”.
Vengedesh has since claimed trial to three counts of voluntarily causing hurt to Sivabalan to extort a confession.
As if he had not caused enough trouble, Vengedesh was also facing three charges of verbally abusing police officers and drinking alcohol in public after 10:30pm.
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Featured Image: Google Maps (Central Narcotics Bureau, Singapore)
