Jul 13, 2010
Jail term reduced to $1k fine
<!-- by line --> By Selina Lum
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<!-- end left side bar --> <!-- story content : start --> WAS it intentional or not?
Two years ago, Patrick Loo Shun Wen reached across the mattress where his girlfriend and her friend were sleeping and touched the latter's breast.
The 27-year-old sales executive later pleaded guilty to molest and was sentenced to six months jail.
But on Tuesday, during Loo's appeal hearing, a High Court judge questioned whether he really intended to molest the woman, then 18, at all. In the end, Justice V. K. Rajah set aside the jail term and fined Loo $1,000 instead, with the judge describing it as a bizarre case.
'Despite the fact that you have pleaded guilty, it's unclear to me what had actually taken place because you were in bed with your girlfriend with whom you wanted to get intimate with,' said Justice Rajah.
Read the full story in Wednesday's edition of the Straits Times.
