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NS dodger gets 1½ months' jail after appeal by prosecution
Brian Joseph Chow evaded enlistment for more than six years and was jailed for 1 1/2 months on Thursday (Feb 11)
Published Feb 11, 2016, 10:50 am SGT
Selina Lum
SINGAPORE - A 25-year-old man with attention deficit disorder who left the country as a teenager to study in Australia and evaded enlistment for more than six years was on Thursday (Feb 11) jailed for 1½ months.
The sentence was handed down to Brian Joseph Chow after the prosecution appealed to the High Court against his original sentence of a $4,500 fine.
Justice Chan Seng Onn told Chow that he would have been jailed three months if not for his outstanding performance during his national service (NS), which he eventually served when he voluntarily returned to Singapore in May 2013.
Chow, who is now training to be a commercial pilot, asked through his lawyer S. H. Almenoar to defer his prison term but the request was rejected and he started serving the sentence immediately.
Chow first left to study in Australia in 2005, when he was 15. His parents had decided to enrol him at Murdoch College in Perth, which had a programme to help him manage his condition.
In January 2008, he was notified to register for NS. After a letter from the school, the Ministry of Defence offered him a deferment for his foundation course - but not for his tertiary studies. Follow-up reporting orders were issued.
In March 2009, Chow applied via e-mail to defer NS for his university studies. This was rejected. Two months later, he made the same plea and was again rejected.
He returned to Singapore two months after he graduated from the University of Western Australia.
Last October, Second Solicitor-General Kwek Mean Luck had appealed for Chow to be jailed, urging the court to build on a landmark ruling in 2014 that those who default on NS for more than two years should be jailed.
The prosecutor had urged the High Court to set a sentencing benchmark of four months' jail for young men who evade NS for more than two years but are young enough to serve their duties in full.
Chow was sentenced to 11/2 months jail for evading national service for six years.PHOTO: INSTAGRAM
Published
Feb 14, 2016, 5:00 am SGT
The father of Brian Joseph Chow says he is "very disappointed" by the High Court's decision on Thursday to send his son to jail for 1½ months for evading national service (NS) for six years.
He told The Sunday Times yesterday that any parent in his shoes would be.
"I don't understand (the decision), because my son has served, and he has served well," added Chow's father, who declined to be named.
His son, now 25, first left to study in Australia in 2005 after completing part of his secondary school education in Singapore. His parents had felt that the education system here was not equipped to deal with his attention deficit disorder.
Chow needed to apply for a valid exit permit to remain outside Singapore when he turned 16½ in 2007, but did not do so.
In January 2008, he was notified to register for NS.
After providing a letter from his school in Australia, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) allowed a deferment for his foundation course, but not for his university studies. It issued follow-up reporting orders.
In March 2009, Chow e-mailed Mindef, asking for a deferment for his university studies. He was told that he had committed an offence and was advised to return. In May, he repeated the request and was rejected. In 2013, he returned to Singapore, two months after graduating from university.
Justice Chan Seng Onn told Chow he would have been jailed for three months if not for his exceptional performance during NS. Chow went to the Specialist Cadet School after Basic Military Training, and later became a reconnaissance instructor with the Combat Intelligence School.
Justice Chan said testimonials from Chow's commanders during his NS described his performance as exceptional.
