Teenage blogger Amos Yee who was found guilty of uploading an obscene image and making remarks intending to hurt Christian feelings will be remanded for 3 weeks. The Judge has also called for a reformative training report.
Earlier, the prosecution again called for Yee to be sent for reformative training. But defence, in light of Yee’s rejection of probation pushed for a short jail term.
The next hearing will be at 9.30am on June 23.
Clad in yellow, Yee arrived at 9.30am with his parents and showed the middle finger as he passed. When asked by The Straits Times before the start of the session how he was feeling, Yee said he was “fearful” but did not elaborate.
The court gallery is less packed today than on previous sessions, with only about 20 seats filled. There was also no queue to enter the gallery. Among those present in the gallery is activist blogger Roy Ngerng. Yee’s former bailor Vincent Law who Yee had falsely accused of molesting him was absent.
Yee could find out his sentence for the May 12 conviction, or be remanded for up to four weeks to be assessed for reformative training.
The 16-year-old had been summoned back to court last Wednesday for an urgent hearing, after he refused to attend any interviews with his assigned probation officer and again made public the image and video that got him into trouble in the first place.
The obscene image had the faces of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and former British premier Margaret Thatcher superimposed on it. Yee was also found guilty of deliberately hurting the feelings of Christians in the YouTube video, which criticised Mr Lee.
Yee initially privatised both the video and the blog post with the image after District Judge Jasvender Kaur ordered him to do so, as a consequence of the convictions.
But the prosecution noticed on May 21 that the offending video and post had been made public again.
On Monday, Yee uploaded the image onto his Facebook page as well. He also made a series of defiant posts refusing to remove the offending material.
“Me taking down my video is just candy for the Singapore government, candy that I’m not willing to give,” he wrote.
In court and behind closed doors last Wednesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Hay Hung Chun asked Judge Kaur to call for a report to assess Yee’s suitability for reformative training.
The judge had initially called for a probation suitability report, which would have left the teenager without a criminal record.
DPP Hay said a jail term or a fine would have no rehabilitative effect on Yee.
He argued that a stint at the Reformative Training Centre (RTC) would “provide the necessary structure and discipline which Yee’s present circumstances clearly lack, and will be conducive to his rehabilitation.”
Reformative training is a rehabilitative sentencing option for young offenders aged under 21 who are found to be unsuitable for probation.
A stint at the RTC lasts between 18 and 30 months, and includes structured rehabilitation programmes, foot drills, and counselling. Offenders will not have contact with adult prison inmates.
Source: www.straitstimes.com
