PART 6 27.—(1) The purpose of an inquiry into the death of any person is to inquire into the cause of and circumstances connected with the death and, for that purpose, the proceedings and evidence at the inquiry must be directed to ascertaining the following matters insofar as they may be ascertained:| (a) | the identity of the deceased; | | (b) | how, when and where the deceased came by his or her death. |
| (2) A Coroner at an inquiry is not to frame a finding in such a way as to determine any question of criminal, civil or disciplinary liability but is not inhibited in the discharge of his or her functions by any likelihood of liability being inferred from facts that the Coroner determines or recommendations that the Coroner makes. |
| (3) At the conclusion of the inquiry, the Coroner is to record his or her findings as to the matters referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1). |
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28.—(1) A pre-inquiry review may be held by a Coroner before the commencement of an inquiry.(2) The purpose of a pre-inquiry review is to settle the following matters with a view to expediting the inquiry:| (a) | the filing of the investigation papers and any post-mortem examination report or special examination report made under section 20 for the inquiry; | | (b) | any issues of fact or law for the inquiry; | | (c) | the witnesses to be called to the inquiry; | | (d) | the filing of any conditioned statements to be admitted in evidence in the inquiry; | | (e) | the date of the inquiry; | | (f) | any other application to be made for the inquiry. |
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| (3) A pre-inquiry review and any application made to the Coroner at the pre-inquiry review may be heard by live video link, or by any other means that the State Coroner may approve. |
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29.—(1) A Coroner who is to hold a pre-inquiry review or an inquiry may cause a notice to be served on any properly interested person.| (2) Any such notice must state the date, time and place of the pre‑inquiry review or inquiry and must be served on any properly interested person within a reasonable period. |
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| Summoning of witnesses and production of documents |
30.—(1) A Coroner has and may exercise all the powers of a Magistrate’s Court with regard to —| (a) | summoning and compelling the attendance of witnesses and requiring them to give evidence; and | | (b) | the production of any document or thing, |
| at any inquiry held by the Coroner. |
| (2) Every summons to appear, warrant of arrest or summons to produce must be in writing signed by the Coroner and must bear the seal of the court. |
| (3) Such summons to appear or summons to produce must ordinarily be served by a police officer, but the Coroner may, if he or she sees fit, direct it to be served by some other person. |
| (4) The provisions of section 38, Part 6 and section 235 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 apply, with the necessary modifications, in relation to summonses to appear, warrants of arrest and summonses to produce issued by a Coroner. |
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| Inquiries to be made public |
31.—(1) An inquiry is to be held in open court, unless a Coroner is of the opinion that it is in the interests of justice, propriety, public order or public security, or there is other sufficient reason, that the public be excluded from the inquiry or any part of the inquiry.| (2) Whenever an inquiry or part of an inquiry is not held in open court, the Coroner must report his or her reasons for not so holding it to the Public Prosecutor. |
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32.—(1) A Coroner may, if he or she considers it appropriate to do so, appoint not more than 2 assessors with skill and experience in the matter to which the inquiry relates to assist him or her in the hearing of any inquiry.| (2) Any assessor appointed under subsection (1) may sit with the Coroner in the hearing of the inquiry and has the power to advise but not to determine any matter relating to the inquiry. |
| (3) The remuneration of any assessor sitting in an inquiry is payable out of moneys provided by Parliament, at such rate as may be prescribed. |
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| Evidence by conditioned statements |
33.—(1) Despite anything in any written law, a written statement made by any person summoned as a witness in any inquiry is admissible as evidence at the inquiry to the same extent and to the same effect as oral evidence by the person, if the following conditions are satisfied:| (a) | the statement appears to be signed by the person who made it; | | (b) | the statement contains a declaration by the person to the effect that it is true to the best of his or her knowledge and belief and that he or she made the statement knowing that, if it were given in evidence, he or she would be liable to prosecution if he or she stated in it anything he or she knew to be false or did not believe to be true. |
(2) The following provisions also apply to any written statement given in evidence under this section:| (a) | if the statement is made by a person below 21 years of age, it must state his or her age; | | (b) | if it is made by a person who cannot read it, it must be read to him or her before he or she signs it and must be accompanied by a declaration by the person who read the statement to him or her, stating that it was so read; | | (c) | if it refers to any other document as an exhibit, it must be accompanied by a copy of that document or by information that will enable the Coroner to inspect that document or a copy of it. |
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| (3) Where a written statement made by any witness is admitted in evidence under this section in an inquiry (called in this Act a conditioned statement), the Coroner may call the person to give evidence. |
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| Reading over evidence and correction |
34.—(1) The conditioned statement (if any) of a witness in an inquiry must be read over to him or her.| (2) If the witness denies the correctness of any part of the conditioned statement, the Coroner may, instead of correcting the conditioned statement, make a memorandum on it of the objection made to it by the witness and must add any remarks that the Coroner thinks necessary. |
| (3) If the witness does not understand English, the conditioned statement must be interpreted for him or her into the language in which it was given or in a language which the witness understands. |
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35.—(1) Any properly interested person, and any other person who has the permission of the Coroner to do so, may examine a witness in person or by counsel.| (2) Where at any inquiry the report of the pathologist who has conducted or supervised a post-mortem examination of the body or the report of a person who has made a special examination under section 19(2)(b) is received in evidence, any person mentioned in subsection (1) who desires to examine the maker of that report may require the Coroner to summon that person as a witness, and the Coroner must do so. |
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| Manner of recording evidence |
36.—(1) The evidence given in any inquiry is to be recorded by the Coroner in writing or in any other suitable form of recording whereby the evidence can be reduced to a readable form.| (2) Evidence recorded in writing or, if it is not recorded in writing, the transcript of the evidence recorded, must be in English and signed by the Coroner, and forms part of the record of the inquiry. |
| (3) Evidence may be recorded in the form of question and answer or in the form of a narrative, as the Coroner thinks fit. |
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| Rules of evidence not applicable |
| 37. A Coroner holding an inquiry is not bound by the rules of evidence and may conduct an inquiry in any manner the Coroner reasonably thinks fit. |
| 38. A Coroner holding an inquiry in any place may adjourn the inquiry to another day and order the adjourned inquiry to be held in the same or any other place. |
| Adjournment of inquiry when criminal proceedings commenced |
39.—(1) If, before the conclusion of an inquiry by a Coroner, any person is charged with any offence under —| (a) | Chapter 16 of the Penal Code 1871; | | (b) | section 64, 65 or 66 of the Road Traffic Act 1961; or | | (c) | Part 4 of the Workplace Safety and Health Act 2006, |
| in relation to an act which caused or could have caused the death which is the subject of the inquiry, the Coroner is to adjourn the inquiry until after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings. |
| (2) Where a Coroner resumes an inquiry after the conclusion of the criminal proceedings mentioned in subsection (1), the Coroner is to continue with the inquiry from the stage at which it was adjourned, provided that at the resumed inquiry no finding is to be made which is inconsistent with the result of those criminal proceedings. |
(3) If, having regard to the result of the criminal proceedings mentioned in subsection (1), there has been a finding in those proceedings as to the cause of and circumstances connected with the death, and the Coroner decides not to resume the inquiry, the Coroner is to —| (a) | endorse the Coroner’s record and the certificate required under section 42 accordingly; and | | (b) | send to the Public Prosecutor and the Commissioner of Police each a copy of the certificate mentioned in section 42. |
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(4) Where an inquiry is adjourned under subsection (1), it is the duty of —| (a) | the District Judge or Magistrate before whom the criminal proceedings mentioned in subsection (1) are concluded; or | | (b) | the Registrar of the Supreme Court, in the case of any criminal proceedings before the General Division of the High Court or the Court of Appeal, |
| to inform the Coroner responsible for holding the inquiry of the result of the criminal proceedings in relation to the subject of the inquiry. |
[40/2019] |
(5) In this section, “criminal proceedings” means the proceedings before —| (a) | a Magistrate at any committal proceeding; | | (b) | any court by which a person is tried; or | | (c) | any court before which an appeal from the decision of the court mentioned in paragraph (b) is heard, |
| and criminal proceedings are not to be deemed to be concluded until no further appeal can be made in the course of them. |
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| Adjournment of inquiry when commission or committee appointed under Inquiries Act 2007 |
40.—(1) If, before the conclusion of an inquiry by a Coroner, a commission of inquiry or committee of inquiry is appointed under the Inquiries Act 2007 to inquire into any matter relating to the cause of or circumstances connected with the death which is the subject of the Coroner’s inquiry, the Coroner is to adjourn his or her inquiry until after the conclusion of the inquiry by that commission or committee.| (2) Where a Coroner resumes his or her inquiry after the conclusion of the inquiry by the commission or committee mentioned in subsection (1), the Coroner is to continue with his or her inquiry from the stage at which it was adjourned, and may have regard to any report or finding by the commission or committee which the Coroner considers relevant to his or her inquiry. |
(3) If, having regard to the report of the inquiry by the commission or committee mentioned in subsection (1), there has been a finding in that inquiry as to the cause of and circumstances connected with the death, and the Coroner decides not to resume his or her inquiry, the Coroner is to —| (a) | endorse the Coroner’s record and the certificate required under section 42 accordingly; and | | (b) | send to the Public Prosecutor and the Commissioner of Police each a copy of the certificate mentioned in section 42. |
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41. If a Coroner —| (a) | who has viewed a body or has authorised the release of the body is unable to hold the inquiry himself or herself; | | (b) | is at any time unable to complete the inquiry himself or herself; or | | (c) | is unable to re-open an inquiry previously concluded by himself or herself when so directed by the Public Prosecutor under section 26(3), |
| another Coroner may hold, continue or re-open the inquiry (as the case may be) and may proceed as if that other Coroner had viewed the body or recorded all the evidence at the inquiry himself or herself. |
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42.—(1) Where an inquiry is held into the death of any person, the Coroner must complete and sign a certificate setting out the cause of death as found at the inquiry and must, within 48 hours after the conclusion of the inquiry, forward a copy of the certificate to —| (a) | the Registrar-General, together with such other particulars as are required by the Registrar‑General for the purpose of registering the death under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 2021; and [Act 2 of 2024 wef 16/04/2024] | | (b) | the Public Prosecutor. |
(2) In any case where a reportable death has occurred in Singapore and the Coroner has decided not to hold an inquiry into the death under section 25(2), the Coroner must, after considering the results of the investigations into the death —| (a) | complete and sign a certificate setting out the cause of death based on the evidence before him or her; and | | (b) | within 48 hours after signing the certificate, forward a copy of the certificate to the Registrar-General and the Public Prosecutor in accordance with subsection (1). |
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| (3) To avoid doubt, a Coroner may issue a certificate under this section in the absence of a body. |
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| Forwarding transcripts of evidence, etc. |
43. At the conclusion of any inquiry, including an adjourned inquiry which is not resumed, the Coroner must, at the request of the Public Prosecutor, deliver to the Public Prosecutor —| (a) | the transcript of the evidence recorded and conditioned statements admitted at the inquiry; | | (b) | any exhibit produced in evidence; and | | (c) | a list signed by the Coroner of all exhibits produced in evidence. |
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