Woman seeks to retract guilty plea in animal abuse case
One of the dogs that Chng Leng Khim mistreated. The High Court will now establish the chronology of events leading to her guilty plea and conviction. Photo: AVA
SINGAPORE — In an unusual case, a woman challenging her conviction for animal abuse was made to take an oath for her argument.
Chng Leng Khim, 43, contends that her sentence of 10 days’ jail and a S$3,000 fine for not taking her three unwell dogs to a vet for treatment and causing the animals unnecessary suffering were unfair because her lawyer had pressured her into pleading guilty to her multiple offences.
She was told to make a statutory declaration that she was truthful in making the assertion by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon on Thursday (Aug 4), and the High Court will now establish the chronology of events leading to her guilty plea and conviction.
Making it clear to Chng that lying in a statutory declaration carried consequences, CJ Menon said there must be sufficient evidence before the court can exercise its discretion to allow her to retract her plea.
Under the Penal Code, anyone who is found guilty of intentionally giving false evidence at any stage of a judicial proceeding, or fabricating false evidence which could be used during a judicial proceeding, can be jailed up to seven years and fined.
“The judge took the trouble to make sure you understand (the case). You had the opportunity (to say no). ... If you say that there was something wrong with the process, I need to understand what was wrong with the process. It can’t be a general assertion that people were impatient and tried to rush you,” CJ Menon said.
“The law is such that you can’t be flippant about it ... The system doesn’t work that way. It’s very difficult for a court to say, ‘All right, you changed your mind, we’re going to let you withdraw (your plea)’,” he added.
Chng, who argued her appeal on Thursday without a lawyer, said she had pleaded guilty on Feb 10 out of “fear and extreme pressure”. She faced two charges of animal cruelty, two counts of keeping a dog without a licence and one charge of failing to comply with an order by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore. Another count of animal cruelty and one count of keeping a dog without a licence were taken into consideration for sentencing.
Chng was supposed to be sentenced on Feb 19, but her lawyer Ravinderpal Singh discharged himself. She added that she had tried to retract her guilty plea before the sentencing judge, but was unsuccessful.
Chng hired another lawyer, Mr S H Almenoar, who also discharged himself on Feb 23 when she was sentenced. When she was told to give her mitigation in the district court, Chng reiterated that she wanted to withdraw her plea of guilt, but was purportedly turned down.
Breaking down at one point, Chng said she “should be given a fair trial in the interest of justice, instead of jumping to conclusions based on my plea of guilt given under pressure”.
CJ Menon directed the prosecution to find out when exactly a court document was passed to Chng and Mr Singh, as he thought they had received it a few days before she entered her guilty plea.
“I find it somewhat unsatisfactory that (the prosecution) is unable to tell me what happened between (Feb 5 and 10). If you’re telling me (the document), containing all sorts of exhibits, was given on the 10th, I might have something to say about that,” he added.
Chng is currently out on bail and will reappear at a later date before CJ Menon.
