SINGAPORE: Judgment was reserved in the case of convicted Malaysian drug dealer Nagaenthran Dharmalingam’s last-minute defence against his execution at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday (Mar 1).
Nagaenthran is appealing against a High Court decision that dismissed his bid to commence judicial review proceedings on the basis that he purportedly possesses the mental age of someone below 18.
The appeal was heard by a panel of five judges: Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, Justice Andrew Phang Boon Leong, Justice Judith Prakash, Justice Belinda Ang and Justice Chao Hick Tin.
The crux of the appellant’s arguments was that Nagaenthran is not competent for execution as he has an intellectual disability. His lawyer, Ms Violet Netto, cited medical reports, international treaty obligations and customary international law to argue this.
The hearing started 15 minutes late as the court waited for Ms Netto to arrive, and lasted for more than an hour.
At the start of the hearing, Chief Justice Menon admonished Ms Netto for keeping the Court of Appeal waiting and for tendering a new medical report to the court that morning, just before the judges entered the courtroom.
“This appears to be an abuse of process, this appears to be calculated to delay the resolution of this matter,” he said.
Ms Netto apologised and said she had to attend to her medical problems. She was accompanied by lawyer Ravi Madasamy, better known as M Ravi, who previously represented Nagaenthran.
She received permission from the court for Mr Ravi to give her “technical support” by handing her documents. He also appeared to be whispering into her ear at many points in the hearing, including during delivery of her oral arguments.
“INDEPENDENT” ASSESSMENT AND PRISON MEDICAL REPORT
Ms Netto sought two outcomes. First, she asked the court to order an “independent” psychiatric assessment of Nagaenthran and “up-to-date full neurocognitive test” to evaluate his competence to be executed and for the necessary treatment to be prescribed.
She also asked for adequate time for Nagaenthran to find an “independent psychiatrist willing and able to undertake an assessment”.
She referred to a new medical report by Dr Danny Sullivan that the appellant received on Sunday and submitted to the court on Tuesday morning.
In it, she said he supported the proposal for a panel of psychiatric experts to provide a “conjoint opinion and clarify areas of disagreement”. She also cited medical reports by two other overseas experts.
Second, she asked that an existing medical and psychiatric assessment of Nagaenthran, which is in the possession of the Singapore Prison Service, be provided “directly and confidentially” to the appellant and with his consent, to her and his family.
Nagaenthran was sentenced to death in 2010 for importing 42.72g of heroin into Singapore in 2009 in a bundle strapped to his thigh. He failed in his appeals to the High Court in 2011, to the Apex Court in 2019 and in his petition to the president for clemency.
He was to have launched this appeal in November last year but was given a stay of execution on Nov 9, one day before he was scheduled to hang, after testing positive for COVID-19.
His case has attracted international attention. There was a full public gallery and several members of the media were in attendance on Tuesday.