Past Update
Father of 3 who slapped Amos Yee gets 3 weeks’ jail
SINGAPORE — A
district judge sentenced the man who slapped blogger Amos Yee outside the State Courts to three weeks’ jail today (May 11), ruling that a custodial sentence was needed to send the message that vigilante justice cannot be condoned.
What was particularly aggravating about
Neo Gim Huah’s offence, said
District Judge Ronald Gwee, was that he chose to take matters into his own hands in front of the press, so that the incident would gain maximum publicity.
“The publicising of such unlawful acts, especially in our age of instant and wide publication through social media, could give rise to a lowering of confidence in the rule of law,” the judge said, in convicting Neo of one count of voluntarily causing hurt.
The
49-year-old had set upon Amos two Wednesdays ago, as the teenager was heading towards the State Courts for a hearing into his charges of making offensive remarks against Christianity and circulating obscene imagery. His actions were witnessed by about six to 10 members of the media and the public and clips of the incident subsequently got circulated widely online.
Today, the court heard that Neo decided to “teach (Amos) a lesson” after he took offence at the 16-year-old blogger’s comments about founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in a video clip. A charge was pressed against Amos for his comments about Mr Lee, but it has been stood down for now.
Neo, a father of three who runs his own
air-conditioning and electrical engineering business, had initially thought of confronting Amos outside Bedok Police Division, where the teenager was to have reported daily as part of his initial bail conditions.
He decided against this later “as the media would not be present and his actions would not have been visible to anyone”, court documents show.
Neo wanted the assault to be publicised “so that the world at large would know that (Amos) was being taught a lesson”, the court was told.
The police tracked Neo down using surveillance camera footage of the area, and brought him in about 12 hours later. He confessed about the offence during interviews by the police.
Pleading guilty in court today, Neo submitted a long mitigation plea written in Mandarin, in which he acknowledged his mistake and explained his motivations.
“This child is so disobedient that even the elders, parents, police, the court and the society will not have any impact on him,” he wrote. “ ... I remember how arrogant he was ... That’s why I thought giving him one slap would instil fear in him, and also let him know what are the ways of the world.”
Pleading to be let off with a fine, Neo added that he is the sole breadwinner of his family, and also apologised for causing hurt to Amos and his parents.
The
prosecution had asked for Neo to be jailed for two weeks. But the judge said a deterrent sentence was needed, lest the episode opens the door to future cases of aggrieved individuals acting in similar ways.
Neo’s actions were prompted by his own belief that the criminal justice system “would have difficulties dealing effectively with (Amos) owing to his age”, said Judge Gwee.
Every accused person is entitled due process and will be fairly and justly treated and dealt with, he added.
For voluntarily causing hurt, Neo could have been jailed up to two years and/or fined S$5,000.
Meanwhile, the court is set to deliver its verdict on Amos this afternoon. He had pleaded not guilty to his two charges last week.