Norasharee Gous

Norasharee bin Gous (22 November 1973 – 7 July 2022) was a Singaporean who was found guilty of soliciting a man named Mohamad Yazid Md Yusof to traffic 120.90g of diamorphine (heroin).

Norasharee bin Gous was born in Singapore on 22 November 1973.

While nothing was known about his family or background, court documents revealed that Norasharee was formerly a member of the local street gang '369' (or Salakau) during his younger years.

Norasharee was involved in several gang fights in the past.

Norasharee was previously jailed in 1997 for drug consumption, and two years later in 1999, he was convicted and incarcerated for absconding from urine tests.

In 1998, he got into a fight with the gang leader of Salakau's rival gang "Omega" at a club at the basement of the Telok Blangah House.

After Norasharee emerged victorious from the fight, the Omega gang's lower members attacked Norasharee out of revenge in 1999, stabbing him at the shopping mall Northpoint.

Norasharee claimed that Yazid lied to the police to frame him due to him being a rival gang member of his, and alleged that Yazid one of the Omega gang members involved in the 1999 Northpoint gang attack, and he stated that the animosity between his former gang and that of Yazid made it unlikely that they would engage in a partnership together to traffic drugs.

But the testimony was rebutted by Yazid, who stated he was not involved in the gang attack and he did not have any prior personal vendetta against Norasharee at all.

He was also detained for four years in 2000 for gang activities and released while under police supervision for a subsequent one year period.

Despite his regular stints in prison, Norasharee was able to take up stable jobs after his release in 2004 and 2011 respectively.

In 2006, Norasharee was charged with drug consumption a second time and imprisoned for five years thereafter.

Norasharee left the gang in 2008, but during the time he was working as a bouncer at a nightclub (between 2011 and 2013), Norasharee still faced harassment from the Omega gang members.

Upon the courier's arrest on 23 October 2013, Norasharee was not arrested until July 2015, and he was charged with abetting and instigating Yazid to commit drug trafficking.

A third co-accused, Kalwant Singh Jogindar Singh, was also arrested on the same date and venue as Yazid and charged in court for drug trafficking.

Norasharee, together with Kalwant, were both sentenced to death after they were not certified as couriers or having diminished responsibility, while Yazid was sentenced to life in prison with caning on behalf of him being a certified courier.

Norasharee made several appeals against his sentence, and at one point, he was granted a re-trial based on new evidence but once again sentenced to death.

Norasharee was hanged on 7 July 2022, the same day as his co-accused Kalwant.

On 24 October 2013, 35-year-old Singaporean Mohamad Yazid Bin Md Yusof and 23-year-old Malaysian Kalwant Singh a/l Jogindar Singh were arrested at a multi-storey carpark at Woodlands Drive during a Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) operation.

The CNB officers recovered six bundles wrapped with black tape from the motor box of Yazid's motorcycle, and these bundles contained not less than 120.90g of diamorphine.

Another three bundles containing around 60g of drugs were also found in Kalwant's vehicle.

After Yazid and Kalwant were charged for drug trafficking, Yazid confessed that on the instructions of his boss, known to him as "Boy Ayie", he was told to receive packages of diamorphine from Kalwant for the purpose of trafficking.

Even though there were evidence showing that Kalwant was aware of the presence of the drugs, he denied having knowledge of the diamorphine in his possession and claimed he was asked by his female boss through death threats to import the drugs, which he thought were not illegal narcotics.

After police investigations, the real identity of Yazid's alleged instigator "Boy Ayie" was revealed as Norasharee Gous.

In July 2015, a year and nine months after the capture of Yazid and Kalwant, 42-year-old Norasharee was arrested and charged with instigating Yazid to traffic in not less than 120.90g of diamorphine on 23 October 2013.

Norasharee was brought to trial in the High Court together with Yazid and Kalwant.

Yazid alleged that Norasharee had personally met him at Vivo City on 23 October 2013 and told him to collect the drug bundles from a Malaysian courier (referring to Kalwant), to which Norasharee denied and claimed in his defence that he had met up with a colleague at Marina Keppel Bay for lunch at Vivo City.

On 1 June 2016, the High Court found that Yazid was a truthful witness and hereby rejected Norsharee's defence and therefore convicted him as charged.

Since Norasharee was not a courier, he was sentenced to death.

Similarly, Kalwant was also sentenced to death after his defence was rejected, while in contrast, Yazid, who was acknowledged as a courier, receives a certificate of substantive assistance and thus sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane for his crime.

Norasharee and Kalwant both appealed against their sentences.

While the Court of Appeal granted Kalwant's request to adduce further evidence to support his case in midst of dismissing his appeal, they agreed with the High Court's findings in Norasharee's case and thus rejected his appeal on 10 March 2017.

Norasharee earlier argued in his appeal against the use of Yazid's testimony as sole evidence to convict him, but the Court of Appeal referred to the appeal ruling of Chin Seow Noi v Public Prosecutor, stating that the co-accused's testimony can be used as evidence to determine a person's guilt under the law and they thus dismissed Norasharee's appeal.

While the Court of Appeal agreed to the legal position in Chin, they emphasised on the need for caution to use the co-accused's testimony to determine a person's guilt due to the accompanying risk of false incrimination by the co-accused, and the conviction of a person on such grounds should be done with satisfaction that the person is guilty after considering every factor and incentive of the case.

Norasharee's appeal for clemency was also rejected.

Kalwant himself also failed to overturn his sentence despite exhausting his appeals against the death penalty.

Two years later since the loss of his appeal, an application was filed by then 45-year-old Norasharee seeking to reopen his concluded appeal and to receive fresh evidence.

The application was based on the fact that his previous lawyer from the trial and appeal Amarick Singh Gill, had failed to call for Norasharee's colleague Mohammad Faizal Zainan to support his alibi defence despite Norasharee's instructions.

The evidence was considered new and had given rise to the possibility that Norasharee might be falsely accused, as revealed from the judgement of Norasharee's High Court case and those of two unrelated drug trafficking cases, there is a similar phrase of "Bujang Hawk" being used, indicating a possible collaboration between Yazid and other people to frame Norasharee.

As such, on 5 August 2019, the Court of Appeal approved the case to be reopened since it passed the requirements of reopening concluded cases set by the 2016 landmark ruling of Kho Jabing's case, and ordered it be sent back to the High Court for a re-trial.