Prosecution attacks Tey’s claims of threats, questions if he was mentally fragile

Prosecution attacks Tey’s claims of threats, questions if he was mentally fragile

    By Neo Chai Chin
    POSTED: 18 Oct 2013 07:33

Even when he claimed to be in a fragile state of mind, former law professor Tey Tsun Hang remained “quite competent” in managing matters related to his corruption case, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Jumabhoy.

SINGAPORE: Even when he claimed to be in a fragile state of mind, former law professor Tey Tsun Hang remained “quite competent” in managing matters related to his corruption case.

He also knew that what he had alleged were threats by graft cops to arrest his wife were “hollow”.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Jumabhoy made these points on Thursday as he sought to puncture Tey’s arguments in appealing against his sentence and conviction for corruptly receiving gifts and sex from a former student, Ms Darinne Ko, three years ago.

When Tey, 42, was in hospital in April 2012, he was able to recall entries he had made in a chequebook indicating that he had reimbursed Ms Ko, said DPP Jumabhoy. This disproved Tey’s claim that he was not clear-headed then, because he could tell that these records could vindicate him, the prosecutor said.

Tey’s lawyer Peter Low had kickstarted the appeal on Wednesday by arguing that the trial judge had erred in admitting in evidence his client’s statements to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

Besides being in a fragile state of mind then, there were over 200 instances where he was coerced into confessing — although the court accepted fewer than 10 of these — the lawyer had argued.

Refuting Tey’s claim of being pressured into admitting to the offences yesterday, DPP Jumabhoy questioned why he did not grill the CPIB officers on these allegations of poor treatment when they took the stand during his trial.

This could only be taken by the court to mean that the alleged actions did not happen, or were not part of his case, he added.

Addressing the purported threats he received from the officers — that they would arrest his wife when she returned from overseas — DPP Jumabhoy said that Tey must have known that the authorities could not arrest his wife without good reason.

Tey’s lawyer had earlier said that he lacked experience in litigation and cross-examining witnesses, despite having been a lawyer and district judge.

Tey did not challenge CPIB senior special investigator Wilson Khoo’s evidence that no one had compelled him to give a statement on April 10, 2012, when he was deemed medically unfit to do so, for example.

Mr Low added that no evidence was adduced during the trial as to Tey’s experience as a district judge and lawyer.

Justice Woo Bih Li, who heard the case on Thursday, also painted several scenarios to ask DPP Jumabhoy which amounted to corruption: If Ms Ko was being used by Tey, did it constitute corruption? What if he had received gifts and sex from her out of greed and/or lust? Did whether or not he truly loved her or reimbursed her matter?

Could it merely be said that he was exploiting Ms Ko, the judge asked.

DPP Jumabhoy replied that the difference between exploitation and corruption depends on one’s state of mind, and the court has to determine this through available evidence. In this case, this was the confessions in Tey’s statements.

This is not a corruption case with a “smoking gun”, he added.

The appeal, for which Tey was absent a second straight day, continues on Friday.

-TODAY/ac

- wong chee tat :)