Drug Offender Received His Death Sentence Via Remote Hearing – a First in S’pore

Singapore is known to go down hard on drugs.

We’re one of the few countries in the world that routinely introduces the death penalty for anyone caught trafficking drugs into the country.

And on 16 May 2020, we have experienced yet another “first”, all thanks to the coronavirus outbreak here.

Drug Offender Received His Death Sentence Via Remote Hearing – a First in S’pore

Punithan Genasan, 37, a debt collector from Malaysia, was implicated by two drug couriers of masterminding a drug run into Singapore.

He had introduced the two couriers to each other back in 2011 at West Coast McDonald’s.

He reportedly instructed one to drive into Singapore to meet the other while trafficking at least 28.5g of heroin.

On the very same day that he introduced Malaysian V. Shanmugam Veloo and Singaporean Mohd Suief Ismail to each other, he left Singapore.

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Punithan had used the car for a few hours before returning it to Shanmugam in Johor Bahru.

The next day, Shanmugam drove into Singapore and met up with Suief at a bus stop at Har Paw Villa.

Punithan then phoned Suief and told him to deliver three of the ten bundles that were in the car.

Shanmugam was sentenced to life imprisonment and given 15 strokes of the cane while Suief was given the death penalty back in 2015.

Punithan’s Alibi And Defence Rejected

Punithan was extradited to Singapore on 21 Jan 2016, 5 days after he was arrested by the Malaysian police.

He said that he had never met up with the pair and was in Singapore on that day to collect a debt.

He also claimed that he was in Kedah celebrating Deepavali and couldn’t have passed the car to Shanmugam.

However, his defence and alibi were rejected by High Court judge Chan Seng Onn.

The pair were able to give “detailed and cogent accounts of their relationships” with Punithan but Punithan was unable to explain how the pair knew his personal information.

Justice Chan also said that while Punithan might be in Singapore to collect a debt, he also had “ample time” on that day to meet with the two couriers.

And for the first time in Singapore, the mandatory death penalty was given via Zoom, the video-conferencing platform.

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