SINGAPORE — The former chief executive officer of food and beverage firm The Prive Group has been sentenced to two weeks' jail for drunkenly punching a 13-year-old boy in a lift and asking him lewd questions, after the prosecution successfully appealed against his original non-custodial sentence.
A High Court judge found that Vu Han Jean-Luc Kha, 44, had been voluntarily intoxicated and assaulted a vulnerable victim, leaving him with psychological scars.
Justice Vincent Hoong then imposed the jail time and a fine of S$3,500 on the Frenchman.
Vu Han pleaded guilty in the State Courts last year to voluntarily causing hurt and intentionally causing alarm to the victim.
A district judge then sentenced him to a 12-month mandatory treatment order, which is a community sentencing option offered to offenders suffering from mental conditions that contributed to their offences.
But in overturning the lower court’s decision on Wednesday, Justice Hoong said that the main sentencing principle in this case should be deterrence, not rehabilitation.
WHAT HAPPENED
Following the incident on Nov 22, 2019, a psychiatrist diagnosed Vu Han with bipolar disorder and found that he was likely experiencing a manic episode with possible psychosis.
The psychiatrist, Dr Pamela Ng, found that his mental illness had a contributory link to his offences and recommended the treatment order.
Vu Han had been drunk when he entered a lift with his friend at Parklane Shopping Mall along Selegie Road that evening. He asked the victim, who was with his 12-year-old brother, whether he had hair on his private parts.
When the victim replied “no”, Vu Han asked if the boy wanted to see his private parts. He eventually punched the boy on the head and verbally abused him with vulgarities.
The victim then grabbed Vu Han’s hands to prevent further blows. Vu Han told him: “You want to challenge me? You have no hair on your (private parts), why do you want to challenge me?’”
Vu Han's friend then tried to hold him back and pushed him out of the lift when it reached the ground floor, but Vu Han refused to leave and used his foot to stop the lift doors from closing so that he could slap the victim’s face.
More at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/prive-ex-ceo-jail-fine-hit-boy-prosecution-appeal-2011606
