Raising the Bar for the Mens Rea Requirement in Common Intention Cases

• Main Author: CHUA, Eunice
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2011
• Subjects: Criminal Law; Law Enforcement and Corrections
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/1767; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/3719/viewcontent/Raising_the_Bar_for_the_Mens_Rea_Requirement_in_Common_Intention.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Recently, the Court of Appeal in Daniel Vijay s/o Katherasan v. Public Prosecutor took the view that the law on common intention was not adequately settled in Singapore despite the 138-year history of s.34 of the Penal Code. It went on to give an extensive review of the cases interpreting the section as well as its Indian equivalent, before setting out the proper approach to take in "twin crime" common intention cases, focusing specifically on the mens rea element required in order to establish constructive liabilityfor the secondary crime. This case note seeks to highlight the changes brought about by Daniel Vijay s/o Katherasan v. Public Prosecutor and to comment on the significance of these changes.