a day ago
Trial underway for two men arrested in police drug raid on Sentosa hotel party
SINGAPORE: Two men who were arrested in a drug raid on a party at a Sentosa hotel villa in 2023 went on trial on Tuesday (Jul 15) to fight charges of consuming MDMA.
Rayson Lee Rui Sheng, 35, and Tan Li Ming, 28, are each contesting a single charge of consuming a controlled drug on or before Aug 9, 2023.
The offence carries between one and 10 years' jail, and a fine of up to S$10,000 (US$7,800).
A total of 49 men were arrested at the party, which was believed to have been organised through a closed chat group. Substances including ecstasy and ketamine and drug paraphernalia were seized in the raid. MDMA is also known as ecstasy.
The court heard that Lee and Tan attended the party at Sofitel SG Sentosa Resort & Spa between 8pm on Aug 8, 2023 and the early hours of Aug 9. They had various drinks at the gathering.
At about 5.40am on Aug 9, 2023, police officers raided the hotel villa after receiving information about drug-related activity taking place there. The party attendees were arrested at about 10.15am.
Lee and Tan each provided two urine samples and one hair sample. Under analysis by the Health Sciences Authority, all the samples were found to contain MDMA. The hair samples also contained ketamine.
The legal effect of this is that each man is presumed to have consumed MDMA "until the contrary is proved", said Deputy Public Prosecutors Jocelyn Teo and Dhiraj G Chainani in their opening statement.
They noted that Lee and Tan did not challenge that their urine samples were obtained according to regulations, and found to contain MDMA.
"Given the statutory presumption in section 22 of the Misuse of Drugs Act, the burden of proof rests upon Mr Tan and Dr Lee to rebut the presumption on a balance of probabilities," they said.
