Munusamy Ramarmurth, was sentenced to death for drug trafficking after being found with a bag of drugs along Harbourfront Avenue in his parked motorcycle.
He was convicted on 10 November by the High Court of being in possession of 6.3kg of a granular substance.
The substance was found to have contained 57.54 grams of heroin following an analysis, which is more than the 15g required for a death sentence to be passed.
Judge explains her decision
Justice Audrey Lim explained her decision to convict Munusamy, saying that she didn’t believe his story that he thought the bag contained a bunch of mobile phones that were stolen.
She also didn’t believe his claim that he allowed the bag to be stored in his motorcycle box temporarily for another man to collect.
What happened?
Munusamy was arrested on 26 January 2018 at Harbourfront Centre Tower 2, inside the cleaners’ room.
He was brought to his motorcycle parked at Keppel Bay Tower and they found a red plastic bag that contained bundles of drugs in his rear box.
Improper conduct of investigation officer
In her written grounds, Justice Lim also called the conduct of Investigation Officer Derek Wong “inappropriate and unacceptable” with the latter prompting a witness who was on the stand during the trial.
She said:
“Attempting to prompt a witness who is testifying, even on a point which may turn out to be immaterial or inconsequential, is improper and unbefitting of an enforcement officer.”
Wong had twice signaled to Sergeant Mohammad Nasrulhaq, picking up a field diary to show it to the latter when he was being asked questions relating to the handover of a duffel bag.
Nasrulhaq was being asked what “heroin” refers to, to which Wong then mouthed the word “diamorphine” to him.