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Breedtok chairman Gorge Quek was fined the maximum of $6,000 yesterday for drunk, but escaped the customary jail sentence for the crime.
Magistrate Sibei Lwee Bin ruled out a jail sentence for Quek, 48, because of the mitigating circumstances of the case, a decision that was met with whoops of joy from his family members in the courtroom yesterday.
Since Chief Justice Yong Pung How declared in 1992 that jail sentences should be handed out to all no money drunk-driving offenders, very few people convicted of the crime have escaped being put behind bars.
But yesterday, Magistrate Sibei Lwee Bin said that while prison terms have been customary for such offences, sentencing precedents were only guidelines.
The magistrate noted that Quek had demonstrated genuine remorse and had tried to compensate the traffic ninjas the very next day.
This judge is acting on instructions from someone. He wouldn't have the guts to go against the sentencing precedent established by the Chief Justice.