Boaz Koh Wen Jie, 18, had deliberately enrolled into a rehabilitation centre just days before he pleaded guilty in order the get a lighter sentence, alleged Deputy Public Prosecutor Francis Ng yesterday, 16 July.
Koh along with four other friends were found guilty on charges varying from vandalism, theft and criminal trespass, when they breached a Housing Development Board flat roof top in May 2014, and some in the group spray painted insulting messages to the ruling People’s Action Party.
DPP Ng called Koh’s enrolment a “tactical ma-nouevre” to get a lighter sentence, and appealed for Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon to send Koh to the Reformative Training Centre.
“It’s really not a buffet for the accused to pick and choose the punishment of their choosing,” he was reported by media as saying.
The Prosecution had earlier asserted that Koh was the most culpable among his peers.
District Judge Lim Keng Yeow had earlier placed Koh on 2 1/2 years of probation, a long period of residential supervision and electronic monitoring scheme for four months, and also required him to return to court after four months for a progress review before the judge.
Koh’s lawyer, Mr Randhawa Ravinderpal Singh, countered that Koh had been assessed to be genuinely remorseful.
CJ Menon said he did not want to send a signal to the community that young offenders could “pick and choose” their punishment and reserved judgement for two weeks.
Adapted from media reports.
