(delivering the judgment of the Court): These three appeals from the Court of Criminal Appeal of Singapore, which were heard together because they raised a single and identical point of law, arise out of two separate trials for different capital offences that were tried before two judges of the High Court under the section that bears the number 193 in the 1980 reprint of the Criminal Procedure Code. Throughout these reasons for their decision dismissing the appeals, which was given orally on April 30, 1981, their Lordships will refer to the relevant sections of the Criminal Procedure Code as they are numbered in the current reprint.

Haw Tua Tau was charged with the murder of two persons. He was convicted of both offences by the unanimous decision of the two High Court judges (Chua and Rajah JJ.). He appealed against his conviction to the Court of Criminal Appeal, and his appeal was dismissed on September 7, 1979. Low Hong Eng and Tan Ah Tee were charged jointly with trafficking in 459.3 grams of diamorphine -- a quantity that attracts a mandatory death penalty under the Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Act, 1975. They were convicted of that offence by the unanim