Source : Straits Times – 29 Aug 2009
It appeals against $1,200 fine for vandalism after Laguna man’s alleged remarks to reporters
THE former management committee chairman of Laguna Park has already been fined $1,200 for committing mischief – vandalising his neighbours’ padlocks.
But prosecution lawyers have pounced on comments he allegedly made to reporters – that he was not remorseful – to push for a stiffer sentence for him.
Yesterday, two reporters were put on the stand so they could tell the court what Mr Lee Kok Leong, 62, said to them.
The general manager of a logistics firm had pleaded guilty to two counts of mischief and was fined in April. He could have been fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to a year in jail on each charge.
He committed the acts of vandalism in August last year amid a row among Laguna Park residents over whether the condo should be sold en bloc.
A closed-circuit television camera caught him in the act.
Mr Lee’s lawyer Ramesh Tiwary had told the court that his client was remorseful, and District Judge Soh Tze Bian decided that the fine was appropriate.
With the prosecution’s appeal against the sentence, and because it was to present new evidence, the High Court sent the case back to the lower court to hear the new witnesses – the reporters, who have filed affidavits.
Yesterday, Ms Rachel Chan of mypaper testified that immediately after the April hearing, Mr Lee told her the sentence was reasonable but added: ‘Fine, fine, lor. After all, I can afford to pay.’
The reporter said Mr Lee smiled and added: ‘One night, I spend $4,000 on karaoke. What is $1,200?’ She said Mr Lee told her he was not remorseful. Asked why, he said it could be due to his depression.
Questioned by Mr Tiwary, Ms Chan conceded that her report, headlined ‘I am not remorseful, said Laguna man’, did not include Mr Lee’s remarks that the fine was reasonable.
However, she disagreed that Mr Lee had told her only that he intended to plead guilty and nothing else. ‘I stand by my evidence,’ she said.
Ms Kimberly Spykerman of The Straits Times, who took the stand next, testified that Mr Lee had made similar comments to her. In answer to the prosecutor’s question about whether she had an axe to grind with his client, she replied that she bore no grudges against him, and had met him only when she was assigned to cover his hearing in April.
The hearing continues next Friday.
The general manager of a logistics firm had pleaded guilty to two counts of mischief and was fined in April. He could have been fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to a year in jail on each charge.
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