The Magistrates Court has dismissed Iris Koh's claims against four police officers over the handling of goods seized from her during her arrest.
Four charges have been filed against Koh, including two counts of conspiracy to defraud the Ministry of Health. The Healing the Divide organization is notoriously opposed to COVID-19 vaccine.
According to the reasons of a judgment that was released on Saturday (Jan 14), Koh filed a complaint with a magistrate on November 18, 2017. The complaint is separate from the four pending criminal charges.
This type of complaint is a request for a magistrate to investigate an alleged offense or issue additional directives. Anyone who feels they have been the victim of a criminal offense can file a complaint.
Koh said in her complaint that four Singapore Police Force (SPF) officers had violated protocol.
She said that the goods confiscated from her during her arrest — a MacBook laptop, a Vivo mobile phone, and an original cloud email disk containing her emails – were not sealed in tamper-resistant bags with her signature, but rather were in envelopes.
According to court records, Koh was afraid that "fraudulent evidence" may be installed on her devices.
She claimed in her lawsuit that the evidence had been tampered with and was thus no longer acceptable in court. She was particularly worried that the four policemen were "not forthcoming, kept silent, or misled her with their reticence."
She stated that upon receiving exact copies of her three electronic devices, she was "very astonished" to discover that the police officer who had authorized them was on medical leave.
After the Magistrate's Complaint structure was described to her and she was advised that violation of the protocol would not constitute a criminal offense, she indicated that the offenses were in violation of Section 182 and/or Section 187 (1) of the Penal Code.
Section 182 specifies that anybody who provides a public servant with false information that he knows or believes to be false, and the public servant uses legitimate authority to inflict harm or annoyance, is subject to punishment.
Koh asserted that the police officers committed the crimes because they did not help a member of the Attorney-Chambers General's (AGC) team.
Senior Magistrate Hamzah Moosa stated in the rationale for his judgment that her claims that her gadgets should be wrapped in tamper-proof bags should be made by her attorney in the trial court and handled by the trial judge.
The magistrate also informed Koh that the trial court would hear her additional claims, including that the four police officers' silence may have deceived her.
He emphasized that her claim that one or more of the police officers lied to her on November 4, 2022, when they told her that the copies of the evidence were not available, and then handed them to her three days later, was not a crime.
“Her response to this was that somebody lied to her and that is an offence,” said the magistrate.
"I also advised Ms. Iris Koh that she may file a complaint with the appropriate SPF department or bring the matter to the attention of the AGC if she had any concerns or claims regarding the probable wrongdoing of one or more of the four police officers."
He noted that Koh did not present any convincing proof that any of the four police officers had violated the Penal Code, and that there was insufficient evidence to pursue her case.
Koh has filed an appeal against the verdict made by the magistrate.
Have a story? Send to us here sgtelltale@outlook.com
Comments