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Jun 24, 2010
Urine tests not properly done
<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh
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Mr Lim Boon Keong, 26, will not have to serve three years in jail. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
IN A RARE move, the High Court on Wednesday acquitted an odd-job worker of drug consumption as the urine tests were not carried out according to the law. Mr Lim Boon Keong, 26, will not have to serve three years in jail. Justice Steven Chong noted that while the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) stipulated that the tests should be done by Health Sciences Authority analysts, the tests in this case were carried out by HSA laboratory officers, who need to have a diploma only.
As analysts need to have a good Bachelor of Science degree, there was a material difference, the judge noted. Mr Lim was caught gambling with some friends in a shop house in Geylang on Feb 4. An instant urine test at the Police Cantonment Complex revealed traces of norketamine - a ketamine-type drug - and two bottles of his urine were then sent to HSA for further checks. These also proved positive and Mr Lim was charged. At the trial last year, he insisted on his innocence as he had inadvertently drunk a spiked drink at the shop house.
His lawyer S.K. Kumar (correct) also challenged the validity of the two HSA certificates on the urine test results on grounds that these had not been conducted properly. But Mr Lim, who had a previous drug conviction in 2004, was sentenced to three years jail. He was also fined $2,000 for gambling and fighting. In quashing the conviction on Wednesday, JC Chong said there was a vital difference between reviewing and supervising. Reviewing the results would not reveal the mistakes when conducting the tests.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of the Straits Times.
