Public Prosecutor v Tan Khoon Shan Terrance: Sentencing Appeal for Telecommunications Act Offences

In Public Prosecutor v Tan Khoon Shan Terrance, the Public Prosecutor appealed to the High Court of Singapore against the District Judge's sentence of 15 months' imprisonment imposed on Terrance Tan Khoon Shan for offences under s 41(c) of the Telecommunications Act. Tan, an ex-employee of Singtel, damaged OpenNet's fibre optic cables in 12 housing estates, causing $185,820 in damages, motivated by revenge. Chan Sek Keong CJ allowed the appeal, enhancing the sentence to 30 months' imprisonment, emphasizing retribution and general deterrence due to the premeditated nature and significant public impact of the offences.

1. Case Overview

1.1 Court

High Court

1.2 Outcome

Appeal Allowed

1.3 Case Type

Criminal

1.4 Judgment Type

Grounds of Decision

1.5 Jurisdiction

Singapore

1.6 Description

The Public Prosecutor appealed against a 15-month sentence for Terrance Tan Khoon Shan, who damaged OpenNet's fibre optic cables. The High Court enhanced the sentence to 30 months.

1.7 Decision Date

3 September 2012

2. Parties and Outcomes

Party Name	Role	Type	Outcome	Outcome Type	Counsels
Public Prosecutor	Appellant	Government Agency	Appeal Allowed	Won	G Kannan, Toh Puay San, Sanjiv Vaswani
Tan Khoon Shan Terrance	Respondent	Individual	Sentence Enhanced	Lost	Nedumaran Muthukrishnan

3. Judges

Judge Name	Title	Delivered Judgment
Chan Sek Keong	Chief Justice	Yes

4. Counsels

Counsel Name	Organization
G Kannan	Attorney-General's Chambers
Toh Puay San	Attorney-General's Chambers
Sanjiv Vaswani	Attorney-General's Chambers
Nedumaran Muthukrishnan	M Nedumaran & Co

4. Facts

The Respondent was an ex-employee of Singtel.
The Respondent was terminated for poor work performance.
The Respondent decided to sabotage OpenNet's activities to cause trouble for his ex-supervisors at Singtel.
The Respondent damaged 617 FSBs by cutting fibre optic cables.
The monetary damage suffered by OpenNet amounted to $185,820.00.
The Respondent's actions disrupted internet service to numerous households in 12 housing estates.

5. Formal Citations

Public Prosecutor v Tan Khoon Shan Terrance, , [2012] SGHC 181
Public Prosecutor v Terrance Tan Khoon Shan, , [2012] SGDC 183

6. Timeline

Date	Event
2010-09-21	Respondent's employment with Singtel terminated
2011-03-01	Respondent found a set of keys on top of a FSB
2011-03-31	Respondent began damaging FSBs
2011-05-04	Respondent damaged a total of 617 FSBs
2012-09-04	Judgment issued

7. Legal Issues

Appropriateness of Sentence
- Outcome: The High Court held that the original sentence was manifestly inadequate and enhanced it.
- Category: Substantive
Deterrence
- Outcome: The court emphasized the importance of general deterrence in sentencing for offences that damage public telecommunications infrastructure.
- Category: Substantive
- Related Cases:
  - [2007] 2 SLR 814

8. Remedies Sought

Enhanced Imprisonment Term

9. Cause of Actions

Violation of s 41(c) of the Telecommunications Act

10. Practice Areas

Criminal Litigation

11. Industries

Telecommunications

12. Cited Cases

Case Name	Court	Affirmed	Citation	Jurisdiction	Significance
Public Prosecutor v Law Aik Meng	High Court	Yes	[2007] 2 SLR 814	Singapore	Cited for the principle that intentional damage to public goods warrants a deterrent sentence.

13. Applicable Rules

Rule Name
No applicable rules

14. Applicable Statutes

Statute Name	Jurisdiction
Telecommunications Act (Cap 323, 2000 Rev Ed) s 41(c)	Singapore
Telecommunications Act s 65	Singapore

15. Key Terms and Keywords

15.1 Key Terms

Telecommunications Act
Fibre Splicing Boxes
OpenNet
Singtel
Sabotage
Vengeful Conduct
Deterrence
Public Telecommunications Infrastructure

15.2 Keywords

Telecommunications Act
OpenNet
Sabotage
Sentencing Appeal
Fibre Optic Cables
Criminal Law
Singapore

16. Subjects

Criminal Law
Telecommunications
Sentencing Principles

17. Areas of Law

Criminal Law
Telecommunications Law
Sentencing