High Court flags district judge's failure to give own analysis in judgment

Justice looks at case afresh on appeal, finds no apparent bias, arrives at same outcome

- Selina Lum

A district judge's use of substantial portions of the prosecution's submissions in his judgment without his own analysis has been flagged by the High Court as a serious concern.

High Court judge Aidan Xu said in a written judgment issued on Dec 3 that the district judge had failed to apply his mind to the material before him in the case of a taxi driver who was convicted of molesting a teenage girl.

The taxi driver - 44-year-old Ler Chun Poh - was convicted in October 2023 and sentenced to eight months' jail.

Justice Xu, whose judgment came after hearing an appeal by the taxi driver against his conviction and sentence, set aside the district judge's decision and decided the entire case afresh.

Ultimately, he concluded that there was no apparent bias, and arrived at the same outcome.

Justice Xu did not name the lower court judge, as is the practice in appellate court judgments. A check showed that the trial judge was District Judge Soh Tze Bian.

This is the second time the judicial officer's conduct has been publicly highlighted.

In September 2023, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said Judge Soh's conduct in reproducing large chunks of the prosecution's submissions in his written grounds of decision was "wholly unsatisfactory as a matter of judicial practice".