GEORGE TOWN – Singaporean lawyer Wong Siew Hong’s handphone has been ringing non-stop after he prevented his Malaysian client, Beh Chew Boo, from being sent to the gallows on drug-trafficking charges in the republic.
Calls have been flooding in for the past few weeks, with potential clients asking him to take up similar death-row drug cases in Singapore.
Wong told The Vibes that he has been getting a deluge of calls daily since the Penang-born Beh was acquitted by the Court of Appeal.
“I was assigned by the high court to represent Beh in July 2017. A man’s life was at stake, with the death penalty hanging over his head.
“It was a difficult thing for me to face, too, but I realised Beh is innocent, and I decided to defend him and save his life.
“I spent between 400 and 500 hours preparing for the trial, and it was well-rewarded.”
He said two or three drug-trafficking cases are registered weekly in the republic on average, with motorcyclists attempting to smuggle narcotics across the Causeway.
There are about 200 cases registered yearly, he added, but only 20% reach the trial stage.
“Singapore is a small nation, so the authorities have to be stringent in enforcing the law, especially on drug trafficking.
“Otherwise, the menace will be uncontrollable and endanger citizens.”
Wong expects the government to pay him about S$10,000 (RM30,628) for his services, having been assigned to the Beh case.
It costs between S$200,000 and S$300,000 if one privately engages a counsel for such a case.
Beh, from Sg Acheh in Nibong Tebal, was acquitted on all five charges of bringing drugs into Singapore, escaping the hangman’s noose and returning to Penang a free man on Wednesday.
Wong said Beh’s case is the first in the republic where someone sentenced to death for drug trafficking is acquitted on appeal.
Freedom, finally
It all started in October 2016, when Beh, 38, and his girlfriend, 33, planned a trip to Singapore.
He wanted to meet a friend and return a powerbank he had borrowed a few days earlier.
Since his motorcycle had broken down, the couple used Beh’s car, driving from Skudai, Johor, to his friend’s house in Johor Baru.
To save on cost, Beh parked his vehicle at his friend’s place and borrowed the latter’s motorcycle for the trip to Singapore.
He remembered feeling pleased that he would save money, as it costs only S$4 in toll fees for a motorcycle compared with S$35 for a car.
The couple crossed the Causeway, and stopped for a regular check by Singapore customs authorities.
Things took an ugly turn when the officer on duty found some 500g of methamphetamine in crystalline form – sorted into four small packets – on the motorcycle.
The street value of the drugs was estimated at S$89,000.
Shocked, Beh and his girlfriend denied any knowledge of the narcotics.
He was sentenced to death by the Singapore high court on the eve of Chinese New Year last year, but escaped the noose in October after a three-man Court of Appeal panel accepted his appeal.
On March 2, the same panel of judges – Sundaresh Menon, Tay Yong Kwang and Steven Chong – set aside the prosecution’s application to press four lighter charges on Beh.
The panel made a 2-1 decision in Beh’s favour.
By then, the bespectacled bachelor had spent 52 months in Changi Prison.
After Beh’s release, Wong went out of his way to help him get back on his feet, as he had no money for food and accommodation, or to buy a face mask.
Wong also brought Beh to the Malaysian high commission in Singapore to obtain his travel documents.
The freed man is currently under quarantine in Penang, in line with Covid-19 requirements. – The Vibes, March 14, 2021
