Man who pushed girlfriend onto MRT track gets 2 more years

Nov 13, 2007
Man who pushed girlfriend onto MRT track gets 2 more years
Court of Appeal ups his jail term from one to three years after prosecution appealed.
By Selina Lum



THE spurned man who had been handed one year in jail in May for pushing his former girlfriend into the path of an oncoming MRT train on Tuesday had his sentence upped to three years after an appeal by the prosecution.
But 26-year-old Kwong Kok Hing, a permanent resident who returned to Malaysia after being released from prison, was not in court to hear his increased sentence.

Kwong now has up till Dec 3 to surrender to the authorities, failing which the prosecution can apply for a warrant of arrest against him.

His lawyers, Mr Shashi Nathan and Mr Adrian Wee, have phoned Kwong's parents to break the news.

'They are obviously upset but we have explained to them that the decision is extremely fair,' said Mr Nathan.

'They are going to have a family discussion and we have advised them to ask Kok Hing to come back.'

The Court of Appeal - Justices Andrew Phang, V. K. Rajah and Tan Lee Meng - will deliver detailed reasons for their decision at a later date.

But it was clear that the main issue troubling the judges was: exactly what mental condition Kwong suffered when he shoved Ms Jenny Low Siew Mui, 26.

Dr Tommy Tan, then of the Institute of Mental Health, opined that Kwong has suffered from dysthymia - characterised by a chronic depressive mood - since he was in school.

But Dr Y. C. Lim of Raffles Hospital said Kwong suffered from reactive psychosis - a sudden display of psychotic behaviour triggered by a stressful event.

Justice Phang noted: 'When it comes to sentencing, the precise disorder is important because because it's a significant consideration. The accuracy of the diagnosis may become crucial.'

The judges also expressed concern that two different pictures have been painted of Kwong.

'Who is the real Mr Kwong?' Justice Rajah wondered aloud three times.

On Sept 14 last year, Kwong pushed Ms Low off the platform just as a train was pulling into the Clementi MRT station.

She had ended their turbulent two-year relationship a few days earlier but he wanted to patch things up.

Ms Low narrowly escaped death when she made a dash for safety just a split second before the train hurtled past her. Her act of agility, captured by a CCTV camera, was played in court.

On May 23, Kwong pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted manslaughter and was sentenced by Justice Choo Han Teck to one year in jail, backdated to the date of remand.

In effect, with one-third remission, Kwong, who hadspent eight months in custody, walked out of court a free man the same day.