Outrage of Modesty: Accused Acquitted

Amicable Resolution of Criminal Case

1. Introduction

Suang Wijaya acted for an accused person allegedly charged with the offence of committing an outrage of modesty.

2. Representations made to the Prosecution

The accused person contested the charge. After a pre-trial process lasting over a year, the case was due to come up for trial on 16 September 2019.

A few weeks before the trial, we made representations to the Prosecution, urging them to reconsider our previous proposal for the matter to be amicably resolved.

After careful consideration of our representations and the circumstances of the case, the Prosecution consented to the charge being “compounded”. Compounding is a process where the accused person fulfils certain terms which are agreed between the Prosecution, the accused and the complainant. After these terms are fulfilled, the Prosecution makes an application to the Court for an order acquitting the accused.

3. Accused Acquitted

In accordance with the agreement between the Prosecution and us, on the first day of trial, the Prosecution duly applied and the Court duly ordered a discharge amounting to an acquittal.

We are pleased with the outcome of this case. As criminal defence lawyers, we take seriously our professional duty to pursue every reasonable defence and raise every favourable factor in accordance with the law, both inside and outside the courtroom.

The Singapore Police Force has recently released key statistics for reported crimes in January to June 2019 here. In comparison with January to June 2018, the total number of outrage of modesty cases increased by 5%. There was a 31.4% increase in outrage of modesty cases in shopping malls, but there was a 9.8% decrease  in such cases on the public transport system.

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