Considerations for Releasing an Accused on Bail After Allegedly Committing Similar Offences While on Bail

Question:

Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim: To ask the Minister for Home Affairs (a) what are the considerations for the police to release an accused on bail again even if the accused is alleged to have committed similar offences while on bail; and (b) what are the considerations for issuing conditional warnings to an accused who had previously breached such conditional warnings or reoffended after the lapse of such conditional warnings.

Answer:

Mr K Shanmugam, Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law:

1. At the stage of Police investigations, guilt is yet to be established by the courts. We need therefore to consider carefully if we need to hold the accused in custody, or it is safe enough to release him on bail.

2. In such decisions, the Police will consider factors such as whether the alleged offence is bailable under the Criminal Procedure Code, the gravity of the offence, the danger of the offence being continued or repeated, and whether the person had attempted to abscond previously. The Police will impose bail conditions as necessary if they grant the accused bail, including the condition that he must not commit any offence while released on bail.

3. When an accused commits a new offence while on bail, he is likely to have breached a bail condition and have his bail revoked. In deciding whether to release the accused on bail again, the Police will take into account his breach of the bail condition, in addition to the factors I have mentioned earlier. If assessed suitable for bail again, the Police are likely to increase the bail amount or impose further bail conditions.

4. A conditional warning is issued to an offender in lieu of prosecution. That is, the Public Prosecutor will not prosecute him for the current offence, on condition that he does not commit any offence within the specified period of the conditional warning. When determining whether to issue a conditional warning at the conclusion of Police’s investigations, the Public Prosecutor considers factors such as the gravity of the offence, the likelihood of reoffending, and past offences committed by the person – in particular whether the offence is similar in nature to the past offences and how much time has passed between the offences.

5. These are the general considerations for bail and conditional warnings. It is not possible to exhaustively describe the considerations, as each case will ultimately be assessed on its own unique facts and circumstances.