Doctor and friend convicted of taking ecstasy at Sentosa villa party, judge rejects spiking defence
The judge rejected the men’s claims of having their drinks spiked, saying their behaviour at the party was not that of unsuspecting victims.
Dr Rayson Lee Rui Sheng (left) and Tan Li Ming (right) arriving at the State Courts on Jul 15, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Ili Nadhirah Mansor)
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SINGAPORE: A doctor and his friend who were arrested during a raid at a villa on Sentosa in August 2023 were convicted on Tuesday (Jun 30) of taking drugs.
Dr Rayson Lee Rui Sheng, 36, and 29-year-old Tan Li Ming, had contested their respective charges of taking MDMA, also known as ecstasy, claiming that their drinks had been spiked.
District Judge A Sangeetha rejected their defence of spiking, pointing to inconsistencies in their statements and at trial, as well as their behaviour which included taking more drinks despite suspecting they had been laced.
Urine and hair samples taken from both men tested positive for MDMA and ketamine.
THE CASE
Dr Lee and Tan had attended a birthday party at a villa at Sofitel Singapore Sentosa that began on the night of Aug 8, 2023 and extended into the early hours of the next day.
Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officers raided the premises at about 5.40am and arrested several people including Dr Lee and Tan.
At trial, both men, who were represented by Ms Tania Chin, claimed they had consumed drinks that had been laced with MDMA without their knowledge.
Judge Sangeetha said the case hinged on the credibility of the two men’s testimonies.
She said the defence relied on the evidence of two men who were at the villa at the time.
One man testified that he had witnessed a foreigner crushing a green ecstasy pill and putting the powder into a cup filled with liquid that was passed around.
Another man testified that an American had offered him a pill in the master bedroom.
The judge said these accounts established that drug-related activity may have occurred at the villa that night, but that neither man gave evidence about the movements or conduct of the accused men.
She found both accounts by Dr Lee and Tan were not credible.
Dr Lee had testified that he consumed three drinks, accepting the second and third out of courtesy. He said the second drink was from a foreigner from the United States or Canada, while the third was from a stranger.
He was unable to identify any of the men from the photo board of arrested people.
Judge Sangeetha said the specific details Dr Lee provided at trial were “entirely absent” from his police statements, where he said he could not recall who had passed him the drinks.
According to Dr Lee’s first statement, he felt a “little off” and light-headed and euphoric after consuming his first drink.
He compared these sensations to how he had felt when he had previously consumed drugs in Thailand, said the judge.
Despite recognising these sensations, Dr Lee accepted two further drinks in an environment he described as “out of control”.
“Such behaviour can hardly be described as that of an unsuspecting victim,” said Judge Sangeetha.
Tan testified that he consumed three drinks that night, one of them from the man celebrating his birthday.
He saw a group of men using syringes to transfer liquids from blue bottles to silver plastic cups on a table. However, Tan later helped himself to a drink from this table and noticed white residue at the bottom of the cup which looked like crushed tablets.
Judge Sangeetha said Tan’s account that a man had passed him his first drink was inconsistent with the man’s own testimony that he had returned to the villa heavily intoxicated and rested in the master bedroom without interacting with Dr Lee or Tan.
Tan’s behaviour was consistent with a person who chose to consume a drink he had reason to suspect was laced, said the judge.
Tan had also made no mention of his third drink in any of his police statements.
The defence had also argued about CNB’s failure to seize any of the silver plastic cups from the villa.
The judge said this did not assist the defence, because even if the cups had been seized and tested positive for MDMA, it would only establish that the drinks contained drugs and not that all the drinks at the party were consumed from these cups.
The prosecution is seeking between 12 and 15 months’ jail for both men.
The defence needed time to prepare their submissions and mitigation and sentencing was adjourned to August.
For consuming MDMA, the men face between one year and 10 years’ jail, as well as a fine of up to S$20,000.
Source: CNA/ll
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