SINGAPORE - The High Court has directed the case against athletics coach Loh Siang Piow to return to the district court for it to consider new evidence after his lawyer on Friday (Aug 13) presented a statutory declaration from a new witness.
Loh was last year sentenced to 21 months' jail for molesting a female athlete. Charges relating to a second female athlete were stood down.
Defence lawyer Tan Chee Meng said new evidence will show that Loh, better known in the sports fraternity as Loh Chan Pew, had learnt of the identities of his accusers through the police investigation officer.
During the trial in 2018, the prosecution argued that the coach not only knew the identity of his accusers before he provided statements to police, he revealed who they were to others in the sports fraternity - to press them into dropping the case against him.
But Loh maintained during the trial that this was not true.
He claimed he had learnt who they were through police investigation officer Goh Teck Heng. However, the officer testified he did not tell Loh the names of the teenagers.
In a written judgement earlier this year, District Judge Marvin Bay accepted the officer's testimony that he did not reveal the names of the accusers to Loh.
On Friday, Senior Counsel Tan, Loh's lawyer, told the High Court that the statutory declaration, dated Oct 21 last year, supports Loh's claim that it was the investigation officer who had told him the names of the accusers.
In the declaration, the witness said she was at a track competition on July 31, 2016 with Loh when he received a call, purportedly from the police.
It was the day the investigation officer informed Loh that reports had been lodged against him.
The witness said they were having a conversation when the coach received the phone call and she heard him say: "Police? I have to go down to the police station?"
Then, he mentioned molest and said: "who, no tell me..."
After the call ended, she said he named the accusers.
Mr Tan said: "When you look at grounds upon which the learned judge held that Mr Loh was guilty, this was clearly one aspect which persuaded him."
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Deputy Public Prosecutor Gail Wong argued that the statutory declaration amounts to hearsay evidence as the witness cannot say who the caller was, what the context was or whether what Loh said originated from the caller or Loh himself.
The prosecution added in written submissions that the contents in the statutory declaration were inconsistent with previous evidence as Loh had not mentioned the new witness before.
Mr Tan said the witness had approached Loh and his team after reading about the trial in the media.
She then said "she will volunteer a statement to the effect that she was there when Mr Loh received the call".
Mr Tan added: "One can imagine the surprise that Mr Loh would have received when he was told there was an allegation of molest against him.
"Can he be faulted for not calling or mentioning (the new witness)?"
Mr Tan said Loh was unable to identify who was present at the time when he received a call from the police because of "loss of memory".
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After hearing submissions from both sides, Justice Hoo Sheau Peng sent the case back to the trial court for additional evidence raised in the statutory declaration to be taken.
She also adjourned the appeal to be heard another day.
Loh, previously deputy superintendent of prisons, was a former national sprinter and coach of 35 years.
He also used to be a vice-president of Singapore Athletics, which governs the sport here.
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