A delivery driver who was married with two young children with special needs needed urgent money for daily expenses and his children’s therapy sessions.
After borrowing $1,000 from an unlicensed moneylender, he was harassed and forced to help the illegal operations of the unlicensed moneylender.
He was caught and charged in court, expecting to receive a jail sentence of eight to 12 months. His children with special needs would then be left without care during his prison term.
He was represented by a public defender, who pleaded with the court for a lighter sentence. The lawyer also referred the man to a social service agency, to assess the care plan for his children.
Eventually, the court sentenced the man to six weeks’ jail and a fine. The court also agreed to defer his sentence to allow him to ease his child’s transition into Primary 1 at a special needs school.
#1 Strengthening the Public Defender’s Office to ensure access to justice for the vulnerable
Law Minister K Shanmugam cited the story as one of the many examples where the Public Defender’s Office (PDO) has positively impacted the lives of accused persons during the debate on the Ministry of Law’s (MinLaw) budget on Friday (Mar 1).
He said: “It is a good start. We will continue to strengthen the PDO, its capability and capacity to help more vulnerable persons.”
Mr Shanmugam stressed the need to maintain a robust, accessible, and effective legal system while improving access to justice.
He also provided an update on the work of the PDO. As of December 2023, the PDO received about 1,700 applications – almost 850 were eligible for criminal defence aid. As of December last year, PDO has a team of 16 public defenders and represented more than 440 accused persons.
Similarly, the Legal Aid Bureau has been helping and advising the less privileged. The bureau has around 50 in-house lawyers and support staff, and over 140 assigned solicitors.
#2 More people to benefit from legal aid schemes with revised eligibility criteria
MinLaw will revise the means test threshold for those applying for civil legal aid and criminal defence aid as part of efforts to ensure access to justice, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Law Rahayu Mahzam in Parliament. The move would mean more Singaporeans can access legal aid.
The ministry will increase the Per Capita Household Income (PCHI) threshold and the Annual Value threshold for both schemes by the second quarter of this year, Mdm Rahayu said. This is in view of the rises in household incomes and property values recently.
The PCHI and an applicant’s residential property annual value are part of the eligibility criteria used in a means test for applicants applying for legal aid. A means test assesses an applicant’s financial circumstances to determine eligibility for legal aid.
Ms Rahayu said the per capita household income threshold for criminal defence aid, administered by PDO, will increase from $1,500 to $1,650.
The threshold for civil legal aid administered by the Legal Aid Bureau will increase from $950 to $1,050.
The annual residential property value thresholds for both types of aid will increase from $13,000 to $21,000 in line with Ministry of Finance’s revision for social assistance schemes. This covers all HDB flats, she added.
#3 Maintenance Enforcement Officers (MEOs) to improve compliance of maintenance orders
On divorce cases, Mr Shanmugam said the MinLaw will set up a new Maintenance Enforcement Officers (MEO) unit to help applicants gather relevant facts and strengthen the maintenance enforcement process,
MEO can obtain financial information directly from involved parties or third parties. This will relieve applicants from having to gather facts themselves, which can take significant time, effort, and cost when respondents do not cooperate.
With more accurate and complete information, the MEOs and Courts will better distinguish between respondents unable to pay and those refusing to pay. For those unable to pay, MEOs can refer them to financial assistance.
For those who refuse to pay, the Court will monitor payments, typically for six months. Failure to pay can lead to imprisonment. This should reduce repeated defaults, at least in some cases. MinLaw aims to roll out the strengthened process in phases starting in the second half of this year.
#4 94 per cent divorce cases filed under the simplified track were resolved within six months
Mr Shanmugam said courts focus on therapeutic justice, helping parties find common ground and move on with their lives.
Last year, 4,150 or 66 per cent of divorce cases were filed on the simplified track, and almost half involved children. Ninety-four per cent of simplified divorce cases were resolved within six months – a quicker and less costly process. Around 930 or 88 per cent of cases that went through mediation were fully or partially settled last year.
Mr Shanmugam said: “We have been building steadily on our progress over the last few years. We have taken significant steps and will continue to work on helping the vulnerable through the criminal and civil law systems and enhancing dispute resolution in family disputes.”
#5 Dedicated team of personnel to respond to community disputes
Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong said the Government will set up a dedicated team of personnel to respond to disputes on the ground. For a start, the unit will cover community disamenities like noise and hoarding, which can seriously impact community harmony.
“It is important that we tackle quickly before the disputes become intractable and cause irreparable rifts in society. This rift could then lead to friction and ultimately loosening the threads in the fabric of cohesion,” Mr Tong cautioned.
MinLaw has been developing a framework to manage community disputes, he said. This includes promoting pro-social norms early on, mandating mediation where appropriate, and when parties end up in a Community Disputes Resolution Tribunals (CDRT), enhancing the processes and the powers to expedite and efficiently resolve disputes.
