Singaporean man jailed on rare charge of failing to report girlfriend’s death

When a Singaporean man found his girlfriend dead in her bedroom, he tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate her before leaving with his belongings. He texted his girlfriend’s sister hours later to say only that the woman was uncontactable. When his girlfriend’s sister showed up at the unit with his girlfriend’s children, she found her sister dead and decomposing. Jason Hong Kai Qi, 34, was sentenced to one week’s jail on Monday for a rare charge of failure to report a death. He had earlier been charged with concealing a corpse, but this charge was downgraded and was not among the final slate of offences to which he pleaded guilty. Hong also received penalties for unrelated traffic offences, such that his total jail sentence was three months and one week, along with a fine of S$1,000 (US$768) and a driving ban of 12 months. The court heard that Hong was in a relationship with a 33-year-old woman, who had two children from a previous marriage. Her ex-husband had custody of the kids. On April 23 last year, Hong drove to his girlfriend’s condominium unit in Hougang, after failing to contact her. He entered at about 4.10pm and noticed that the unit looked messy. The door to the bedroom was open, and the light was switched off. The curtains were fully drawn and the room was “quite dark”, court documents stated. Hong saw his girlfriend lying motionless on the bed, with a blanket up to her neck. He took her inhaler next to her and pumped it once into her mouth. He heard an exhaling sound and noticed white residue around her mouth. Hong attempted chest resuscitation on his girlfriend, but she remained unresponsive. Hong then took some of his personal belongings from the unit and went to his car, before placing his condominium access card in a sealed envelope in the shoe rack outside the unit. He knew that his girlfriend was dead, but failed to call for medical attention or make any report of the death to a police officer. Later that day, Hong sent WhatsApp messages to his girlfriend’s sister, stating only that his girlfriend was uncontactable and not that she had died. The girlfriend’s sister did not think that anything was amiss. She had just met her sister the weekend before, and it was normal for her sister to be uncontactable. Four days after Hong visited the unit, his girlfriend’s sister went to the condominium unit with her sister’s two children. Upon entering, the woman noticed a foul smell and discovered her sister lying unresponsive on the bed. She called for medical attention, and attending paramedics confirmed that her sister was dead. As a result of Hong’s failure to report the death, the body was discovered only four days after his initial visit. An autopsy was performed on the woman, but her final cause of death was unascertained, as her body was in a state of advanced decomposition and the findings revealed no obvious natural disease of the type or severity that might cause or contribute to death. Hong also pleaded guilty to several charges in an unrelated case in January 2022, when he drove a car without a licence and collided with the back of a taxi. He gave a different identity to the taxi driver and instructed his friend to lie that he had been driving instead, and take the blame. Hong lied to the traffic police in two recorded statements about who was driving the car at the time, claiming that he had lent his car to his friend. ‘Confused and distraught’ The prosecution sought three months’ jail for obstruction of justice in the traffic case and a short jail term for the failure to report death, along with a fine and driving ban. Hong was represented by Azeera Ali and Ashwin Ganapathy from the Public Defender’s Office. They said Hong was in an “on-and-off relationship” with the deceased, and that he had panicked and attempted to administer first aid to her when he found her dead. When she remained unresponsive, he was “confused and distraught”, Azeera said. The prosecutor had made a response to a point in mitigation, which stated that Hong did not intentionally perpetuate the impression that the deceased was still alive. He said that the messages Hong sent to his girlfriend’s sister were trying to hide the fact that Hong had been in the unit. One message asking the deceased to take care of herself “clearly communicates” the impression that Hong was trying to convey that the deceased was still alive, and could not be chalked up to “mere panic”, the prosecutor said. Azeera said her client “does admit” and regretted that he did not clarify what he had seen at the unit. However, he thought that the messages he sent were “sufficient” to get the sister to go and check on his girlfriend. On hindsight, Hong accepted that he should have done more, Azeera said. She said Hong was in “a state of grief” and distress and did not wish to pass on the same grief and emotions to the sister. In sentencing, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said the offence of failing to report a reportable death was “rarely encountered”. She said it would be helpful to understand the legislative intent. The purpose is to ensure that the police are promptly apprised of such deaths, so investigations are conducted without delay, according to the judge. It is designed to promote accountability and transparency of cases, including unnatural deaths. Hong’s actions meant that the deceased’s passing went undiscovered for four days and she was found in an advanced state of decomposition, the judge said. The harm caused was “significant and irreversible”, she said, adding that she could not ignore the fact that Hong’s messages to the sister conveyed a false impression that the deceased was still alive but uncontactable. This was “plainly misleading”, given that she had died, the judge said. The penalties for failing to report a death to a police officer are a jail term of up to one month, a fine of up to S$1,500, or both. This article was first published by CNA

Singaporean man jailed on rare charge of failing to report girlfriend’s death

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Her body, found four days later, was in such an advanced state of decomposition that the cause of death could not be ascertained

Her body, found four days later, was in such an advanced state of decomposition that the cause of death could not be ascertained