JUDGMENT

Choo Kah Sing JCA:

Introduction

[1] The respondent (accused) was initially charged for the offence of murder under s 302 of the Penal Code . The learned High Court Judge, after having found a prima facie case has been made out at the close of the prosecution case, called upon the respondent to enter his defence. The learned High Court Judge, after having heard the defence case, reduced the charge of murder (s 302) to culpable homicide not amounting to murder under s 304(a) of the and convicted the respondent on the reduced charge. The respondent was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment effective from the date of arrest which was on 16 August 2018.

[2] Dissatisfied with the decision of the learned High Court Judge in reducing the charge from s 302 to s 304(a) of the Penal Code and the conviction of the reduced charge, the Public Prosecutor (hereafter "PP") filed this appeal.

[3] On 14 May 2024, this Court, after having heard the oral submissions and after having read the written submissions of the respective counsels, in a unanimous decision, decided to affirm the learned High Court Judge's decision. The reasons for the decision are set down below.

The Salient Facts

[4] The