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SINGAPORE: A High Court judge has dismissed an appeal made by the prosecution to slap a longer jail time on a police National Serviceman who altered the date stamp on his passport.
In July, a district court jailed Mohamad Hamzah Mohamad Hanifah a total of 12 weeks for tampering with the document. He had also forged a medical certificate to cover an earlier absence of duty. For that, the 20-year-old was fined $1,000.
Justice Tay Yong Kwang understood that Hamzah had committed a serious offence, but he also found that the punishment given out was sufficient. Hamzah has completed his sentence and paid the fine, and is still serving National Service.
Deputy Public Persecutor (DPP) David Khoo argued that District Judge Eugene Teo, who heard the case in July, had "erred in law and in fact in failing to appreciate the circumstances" of the case. Hamzah had tampered with a Singapore passport, "a very valuable and important document".
DPP Khoo pressed for a maximum jail term of 12 months.
However, District Judge Teo had stated in his grounds of decision that "one must not lose track of the fact that Hamzah did them (the forgery) solely for the purpose of proffering an excuse for two days' leave".
He did so because of an actual family bereavement and "not on a whim".
Hamzah's intent and motivations "behind the forgery should be the dominant determinants in sentencing rather than the actual form of the forgery", District Judge Teo said.
On Friday, Hamzah's lawyer Suppiah Thangaveloo also said that a one-year sentence was excessive, as his client committed the crime to excuse himself from work and not to deceive the immigration authorities.
During the time of the offence in July last year, Hamzah took urgent leave claiming his grandfather had died in Malaysia. He had in fact been out of the country on July 5 to attend a funeral. He returned home the following day but wanted to take that day and July 7 off as well.
When asked for his passport to confirm that he was in Malaysia, Hamzah altered the date stamp in the document.
- TODAY/so
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