THIS IS A HIGHLY IRRESPONSIBLE ARTICLE THAT APPEARED IN TODAY ONLINE EARLY THIS MORNING AND REPUBLISHED ON THE CHANNEL NEWS ASIA WEBSITE. THE CHILD AT THE CENTRE OF THIS CASE CONTINUES TO BE THREATENED WITHOUT NUMBER WITH BODILY HARM OF A MOST GRAPHIC NATURE AND WAS THE VICTIM OF AN ASSAULT OUTSIDE THE STATE COURTS ON 30 APRIL, THE TRIAL OF WHICH WAS ITSELF ONLY ON MONDAY CONCLUDED . QUITE APART FROM DRIVING A WEDGE BETWEEN GRANDMOTHER AND GRANDSON, ITSELF A REPREHENSIBLE ATTITUDE FOR A RESPONSIBLE TABLOID, THE ARTICLE BREACHED CONFIDENTIALITY IN A CASE THAT HAS ATTRACTED VIRULENT SEXUAL AND PHYSICAL THREATS BY PUBLISHING THE GRANDMOTHER’S NAME AND HER HOME ADDRESS. IT IS IN NOTABLE CONTRAST TO THE MAN WHO WAS CONVICTED OF ASSAULTING THE CHILD, ONLY WHOSE NAME AND OCCUPATION WERE PUBLISHED. I REPRODUCE THE ARTICLE HERE WITH THE GRANDMOTHERS NAME AND ADDRESS DELETED.
Grandson ‘antisocial after getting addicted to Internet’
PUBLISHED: 4:16 AM, MAY 13, 2015
UPDATED: 4:17 AM, MAY 13, 2015
SINGAPORE — Teen blogger Amos Yee was a “normal” child who became antisocial after getting hooked to the Internet, his paternal grandmother said yesterday.
“He is a very smart boy, learns taekwondo,” Madam XXXXX, 76, said in Mandarin.
She said Amos started to devote much time to his computer when he entered his teens. “He rarely goes out with his friends … When I asked why he spends so much time on the computer, he told me that there are a lot of things to learn on the computer,” she said at the family’s flat in XXXXX Road in XXXXX.
Mdm XXXXX spoke to TODAY before she was made aware of the court’s verdict. The court yesterday found Amos guilty of two charges, one for making offensive or wounding remarks against Christianity, and another for circulating obscene images.
In court last week, defence lawyer Alfred Dodwell said Amos has been on social media since he was eight, and engaging online is “equivalent to drinking water” for the blogger, who has stopped schooling despite getting good results in the O-Levels.
Mdm XXXXX, who has been living with Amos and his parents since he was in Primary 1, said: “I am very sad. I hope he will change for the better.”
Asked about Amos’ relationship with his parents, Mdm XXXXX described it as “normal”. When approached outside the courthouse, Amos’ father, Mr Alphonsus Yee, said he had no comment on the verdict. The teen’s mother, Madam Mary Toh, declined to speak to reporters.
YVONNE LIM
Source: Vincent Wijeysingha
