Arms Offences Act

Arms Offences Act 1973
Arms Offences Act 1973
Parliament of Singapore
	Long title An Act relating to the unlawful possession of arms and ammunition and the carrying and using of arms. ;
Enacted by	Parliament of Singapore
Enacted	1973
Amended by
	31 March 2008
	Status: In force

The Arms Offences Act 1973 is a statute of the Parliament of Singapore that criminalizes the illegal possession of arms and ammunition and the carrying, trafficking, and usage of arms.^[1] The law is designed specifically to make acts of ownership, knowingly receiving payment in connection with the trade of a trafficked armaments and ammunition, as well as the unlawful usage of arms and ammunition a criminal offence.

Overview

The Arms Offences Act is an Act to deter unlawful ownership, trafficking and use of arms and ammunition. It was originally enacted in 1973.

The Arms Offences Act defines the punishment to be meted out for different scenarios of violations, and serves as an instrument for the imprisonment and caning of offenders. Apart from unlawful possession of arms or ammunition, illegal usage of arms in particular the committing of a scheduled offence, the Act also prescribes punishment for accomplices and individuals who consort with offenders and traffickers.

Uses of the Act

The first person to be charged and convicted under the Act was Sha Bakar Dawood. He was sentenced to death in 1975 for shooting and wounding three people at a brothel and then opening fire at police at Thiam Siew Avenue.^[2]

Andrew Road triple murders

The Arms Offences Act has also played a part in the 1983 high-profile

NS

conscript Sek Kim Wah. In this case, on 23 July 1983, Sek, together with an accomplice Nyu Kok Meng, also aged 19, armed themselves with a rifle which Sek stole from his army camp in Nee Soon and went to rob a rich businessman's house in Andrew Road and took the businessman and four other people - the wife, daughter, maid and the daughter's Chinese language tutor - hostage. In an attempt to eliminate witnesses after robbing the family, Sek murdered three of the hostages, namely the businessman himself, along with his wife and maid. Filled with horror upon witnessing his accomplice's actions, Nyu locked himself in a room with the remaining two hostages (the tutor and the daughter) and the rifle to protect the girl and teacher from Sek's murderous rampage. When Sek gave up trying to barge into the locked room to kill the others and escaped, Nyu released the businessman's daughter and her tutor after telling them to inform the police and Sek's address before he himself escaped. The following police investigations of the case led to Sek's arrest six days after the crime and Nyu later surrendered to the police.

Initially charged with murder, Nyu Kok Meng was subsequently tried and convicted under the Arms Offences Act for using a firearm to commit armed robbery in July 1985, and sentenced to serve life in prison with 6 strokes of the cane, while Sek was sentenced to death in a separate trial for the triple murders at Andrew Road on 14 August 1985. Sek, who was found to be also responsible for an unsolved double murder at East Coast Park, was later hanged on 9 December 1988.^[3]

Since life imprisonment meant a fixed imprisonment of 20 years, with one-third reduction of the sentence for good behaviour under Singapore law before 1997, Nyu was most likely released after serving full his life sentence since July 2005.

Shenton Way shooting incident

In July 1984, in

Shenton Way shooting incident, was re-enacted in True Files.^[4]

Tan Chor Jin

On 9 January 2009, 42-year-old gunman

mandatory death penalty).^[5]

Khoo Teck Puat Hospital shooting incident

mandatory life sentence with caning between 6 and 24 strokes of the cane under the Arms Offences.^[8]

References

^ "Arms Offences Act - Singapore Statutes Online". sso.agc.gov.sg. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
^ "Guilty As Charged: Lim Ban Lim was most wanted gunman in Singapore and Malaysia in 1960s". The Straits Times. 14 May 2016.
^ Baker, Jalelah Abu (15 May 2016). "Guilty As Charged: Serial murderer Sek Kim Wah found it 'thrilling' to strangle victims". The Straits Times. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
^ "True Files S5". meWATCH. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
^ Hoe, Pei Shan (17 May 2016). "Guilty As Charged: 'One-eyed Dragon' Tan Chor Jin shot nightclub owner". The Straits Times. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
^ Hussain, Amir (2 February 2016). "Man under probe for traffic offences jailed for lorry theft". The Straits Times. Singapore. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
^ Mokhtar, Faris (22 June 2015). "Investigations into Khoo Teck Puat shooting could inform possible 'corrections', says Masagos". ChannelNewsAsia. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
^ Vijayan, K.C. (20 March 2018). "Man who snatched police officer's revolver and fired three shots gets life term in jail, caning". The Straits Times. Singapore. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2020.

External links

Arms Offences Act 1973

[1] "Arms Offences Act - Singapore Statutes Online". sso.agc.gov.sg. Retrieved 11 November 2020.

[2] "Guilty As Charged: Lim Ban Lim was most wanted gunman in Singapore and Malaysia in 1960s". The Straits Times. 14 May 2016.

[3] Baker, Jalelah Abu (15 May 2016). "Guilty As Charged: Serial murderer Sek Kim Wah found it 'thrilling' to strangle victims". The Straits Times. Retrieved 18 July 2020.

[4] "True Files S5". meWATCH. Retrieved 10 May 2020.

[5] Hoe, Pei Shan (17 May 2016). "Guilty As Charged: 'One-eyed Dragon' Tan Chor Jin shot nightclub owner". The Straits Times. Retrieved 18 May 2020.

[6] Hussain, Amir (2 February 2016). "Man under probe for traffic offences jailed for lorry theft". The Straits Times. Singapore. Retrieved 22 February 2016.

[7] Mokhtar, Faris (22 June 2015). "Investigations into Khoo Teck Puat shooting could inform possible 'corrections', says Masagos". ChannelNewsAsia. Retrieved 22 February 2016.

[8] Vijayan, K.C. (20 March 2018). "Man who snatched police officer's revolver and fired three shots gets life term in jail, caning". The Straits Times. Singapore. Archived from the original on 3 July 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2020.

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