Rilek1Corner

Tag: caning

  • Public Prosecutor Will Not Appeal 4-Year Jail Sentence For Joshua Robinson: AGC

    Public Prosecutor Will Not Appeal 4-Year Jail Sentence For Joshua Robinson: AGC

    Following a “careful” review, the Public Prosecutor has decided not to appeal against the four-year jail term imposed on convicted sexual predator Joshua Robinson last week, noting that the punishment he got was broadly in line with relevant past cases’.

    In a statement on Wednesday (March 8), the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) added that while some have called for caning to be imposed on Robinson, the offences he was charged with did not allow the court to do so.

    The AGC also said: “In discharging our duties, we do not differentiate between Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans.”

    The American mixed-martial arts instructor was sentenced to four years’ jail last week for a myriad offences, ranging from sexual penetration of two 15-year-olds to showing an obscene film to a six-year-old girl.

    Following his sentencing, the case attracted widespread public attention, with many questioning why Robinson was not punished more severely – including an online petition being started on Sunday calling for a harsher sentence. More than 26,000 people, including the father of the six-year-old girl affected, have signed the petition, as of Wednesday afternoon.

    In 2015, Robinson contacted a 15-year-old girl through social media repeatedly, and exchanged numbers with her. He instructed the girl to wear her school uniform during their first meeting, where they went to his apartment along Upper Circular Road. There, he filmed them engaging in sexual acts.

    After the girl made a police report, the police found 5,902 obscene films in Robinson’s apartment, of which 321 featured child pornography – the largest stash found on an individual. The children in these videos were between the ages of two and 16.

    In its statement, the AGC said that by getting Robinson, 39, to plead guilty instead of claim trial, his three young victims were spared the ordeal of having to testify in court.

    It had asked for four to five years’ jail to be imposed, after taking into account, among other things, “the fact that by securing a guilty plea, the three young victims would be spared the trauma of having to testify and be cross-examined in a trial”.

    The AGC also addressed public comments that Robinson should have been charged with rape, statutory rape or outrage of modesty, and be subject to caning. It explained that statutory rape only applies to victims who have not turned 14, which was not the case in Robinson’s offences. And because both girls had consented to these sexual acts, an offence of rape could not be pressed against Robinson.

    The most serious offence that Robinson had committed was sexual penetration of a minor under 16 years old, and that did not provide for caning, the AGC added.

    AGC said that it would be discussing with the Ministry of Law whether the relevant legislation should be reviewed to enhance sentencing for some of the offences.

     

    Source: Today

  • Two Suspected Lesbians In Aceh To Undergo Rehabilitation

    Two Suspected Lesbians In Aceh To Undergo Rehabilitation

    BANDA ACEH — Two suspected lesbians detained earlier this week by Islamic Shariah police in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province will undergo rehabilitation instead of being charged with a crime, a police chief said today (Oct 3).

    The women, 18 and 19 years old, were taken in for questioning Monday night by Sharia police officers who saw them sitting and hugging each other in Ulee Lheue, a coastal neighbourhood in the capital, Banda Aceh, according to the Shariah police chief, Evendi Latief.

    “They later confessed to be a lesbian couple and that was supported by pictures found on their handphones,” Mr Latief said.

    The two women, identified only by the initials “AS” and “N” will not be charged because a new criminal code for Aceh that criminalises homosexuality won’t take effect until later this month, he said.

    Under that code, any person found guilty of homosexuality could face up to 100 cane lashes or a maximum fine of 1,000 grams of fine gold or imprisonment of up to 100 months. Indonesia’s national criminal code doesn’t regulate homosexuality.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Court Of Appeal Throws Out Legal Challenges By Convicted Foreign Drug Trafficker Yong Vui Kong

    Court Of Appeal Throws Out Legal Challenges By Convicted Foreign Drug Trafficker Yong Vui Kong

    SINGAPORE — The punishment of caning is not unconstitutional, the apex court ruled yesterday, throwing out the latest in a string of legal challenges mounted by convicted drug trafficker Yong Vui Kong.

    After he became the first to escape the gallows following changes to the mandatory death penalty regime, the 26-year-old Malaysian last year sought to be spared from the 15 strokes of the cane he was re-sentenced to, by arguing that the punishment violated the Constitution.

    However, his bases for the contention that caning is tantamount to torture were dismissed by the Court of Appeal yesterday.

    Prescribed as a punishment for selected crimes in Singapore, caning differs from the cases defined as torture under a United Nations convention, which either involved “severe and indiscriminate brutality”, or extra-legal acts of abuse in interrogations and war crimes, said the court, which was presided over by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon.

    There are also legal requirements, enshrined in statute, on how the punishment is carried out here, the judges added. For example, a medical officer must be present and caning starts and continues only if the offender is certified to be fit enough.

    “It is undeniably the case that caning inflicts a considerable level of pain and suffering on a prisoner. But this level of pain and suffering is far exceeded by that endured by the victims in those cases where courts held that the conduct in question amounted to torture,” they said.

    The judges, who included Appeal Judge Andrew Phang and Justice Tay Yong Kwang, added that these statutory requirements act as “safeguards” to ensure caning in Singapore’s prisons “does not breach the high threshold of severity and brutality that is required for it to be regarded as torture”.

    For instance, caning is administered on the buttocks, which minimises the risk of injury to bones and organs, they said. It is also carried out in private and out of sight of other prisoners.

    The rattan, which is soaked in water beforehand to prevent it from splitting and shearing the skin, is also treated with antiseptic, while the strokes of the cane are “meted out in a measured and controlled manner at regular intervals”, the judges added.

    How international law norms regard caning is also irrelevant, the court said, since Parliament has prescribed for caning under Singapore’s laws, and the judiciary is bound to implement legislation, as long as they are not incompatible with the Constitution.

    A similar line of reasoning defeats another of Yong’s argument against caning, which was that it is too irrational and arbitrary to be regarded as law, since its deterrent effect is unclear.

    In response, the judges said: “The simple answer is that sentencing policy is a matter for the legislature and it is not for the courts to judge whether a particular type of sentence prescribed by Parliament is justified as a matter of deterrence.”

    Yong’s argument that caning discriminates against men under 50 — the punishment is not carried out on an offender above that age — is also without merit, the judges said.

    This differentia clearly serves the objective of ensuring that only those who are physically fit to be caned suffer the punishment, they said.

    In addition, the criteria for exclusions are policy decisions that Parliament is entitled to make and “there is no justification for us to interfere”, the judges added.

    Yesterday’s court decision marked the end of a series of legal bids Yong has launched since he was caught in 2007 as a 19-year-old for trafficking 47.27g of heroin.

    These ranged from his appeal against the compulsory death sentence originally handed down to him to his challenge on the lack of discretion for the President to grant clemency.

    Suspended from legal practice pending a psychiatrist’s assessment, Yong’s lawyer M Ravi was in court yesterday to observe proceedings.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Little India Riot Instigator Gets 3-Strokes Of The Cane

    Little India Riot Instigator Gets 3-Strokes Of The Cane

    A man who was involved in the Little India riot on Dec 8 last year was sentenced to receive three strokes of the cane on Friday (Nov 28), to add to a 25-month prison sentence he had earlier received.

    Indian national Samiyappan Sellathurai was previously sentenced to 25 months imprisonment on Aug 14 for his involvement in the riot.

    But Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Sellakumaran Sellamuthoo told the High Court before Justice Chan Seng Onn that Samiyappan’s imprisonment term was “manifestly inadequate”, given that the 42-year-old had not only participated in the riot, but had also instigated the crowd.

    “The respondent instigated others to help him remove a concrete slab that was used to pave the ground. The Respondent had tried to do so on his own but failed, as the slab was heavy and stuck to the ground. After the crowd joined in — in response to the respondent’s instigation — the concrete slab was dislodged.

    “During the time frame between 10.09pm and 10.19pm, the respondent threw a total of eight pieces of concrete in the direction of the public vehicles and public servants. The crowd, which prior to this was non-violent, followed the respondent’s lead and started to dislodge other concrete slabs, break them and used them as projectiles.

    “The respondent then continued his streak of creating chaos and unrest by inciting others to help carry a small metal rack and ram it against a side wall of the Little India MRT station,” DPP Sellakumaran told the court while showing a video of CCTV footage taken at the time of the riot.

    A total of 25 individuals have been charged in court since for their respective roles and involvement in the riot in Little India.

    Before meting out the sentence on the grounds that Samiyappan had instigated the crowds and also vandalised public property, Justice Chan said that Samiyappan was “considered lucky” that the prosecution had not appealed for a longer prison term.

    “Viewing the video, it is clear that the respondent was the ringleader and instigated the crowd. In this case of rioting, vandalism was involved. Not only vandalism but destruction of government property,” Justice Chan said.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • 2 Germans Charged With Trespassing And Vandalism at SMRT Bishan Depot

    2 Germans Charged With Trespassing And Vandalism at SMRT Bishan Depot

    Two German men were charged this morning (Nov 22) with trespassing and vandalism at SMRT Bishan Depot earlier this month.

    Andreas Von Knorre and Elton Hinz, both 21, appeared before the State Courts and had their charges read in German through an interpreter.

    The Court heard that both men had on Nov 8, at about 2.48am, entered the Bishan SMRT Depot at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 without authorisation and vandalised the left exterior cabin of an SMRT train using indelible spray paint.

    If convicted, both men may get up to S$2,000 fine, three years’ jail and eight strokes of the cane for the vandalism charge, and fined up to S$1,000 and imprisoned two years for the trespassing charge.

    Both men will be remanded at Tanglin Police Division for one week to assist in investigations and reenact the scene. They will next appear in court on Nov 26 and 10am.

    Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com