http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_370739.html
Maximum fine for nudity
By Esther Tan
Eng Kai Er (right), 24, and Jan Philip, 21 (left), did what they did 'to seek thrill'. --PHOTO: INTERNET
THE pair of undergraduates who sauntered through Holland Village in the buff in January have paid for their prank.
They were fined $2,000 each on Thursday, the maximum fine for an obscene act.
Court papers state that Eng Kai Er, 24, and Jan Philip, 21, did what they did 'to seek thrill'.
Considering that all those who witnessed their stroll through Holland Village on a busy Saturday evening saw every bit of them there was to see, the pair used umbrellas to keep their faces hidden from press photographers waiting at the Subordinate Courts on Thursday.
Philip was in a full suit with tie, and Eng, in a black skirt suit and cap, sunglasses and a face mask.
The A*Star scholarship holder, who is pursuing a biomedical science course at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, was heard saying to photographers from behind her mask: 'You won't get anything.'
In mitigation, their lawyer William Chan said they did try to check whether public nudity was an offence before their stunt.
Philip, an exchange student at the National University of Singapore, looked up the Penal Code, which said obscene acts were illegal, but he did not realise that public nudity was considered obscene and hence, was an offence. He told Eng about his findings.
But Mr Chan said their walk down Lorong Mambong, which has several restaurants and watering holes, took place 'at the spur of the moment'.
Their lawyer also tried to explain their actions in the context of their experience of a different culture: 'While certain things are accepted overseas, they may not be in Singapore. They are students. Perhaps they were immersed in a different culture,' he said, adding that their act took place late at night, not in broad daylight or near where children were around.
Maximum fine for nudity
By Esther Tan
Eng Kai Er (right), 24, and Jan Philip, 21 (left), did what they did 'to seek thrill'. --PHOTO: INTERNET
THE pair of undergraduates who sauntered through Holland Village in the buff in January have paid for their prank.
They were fined $2,000 each on Thursday, the maximum fine for an obscene act.
Court papers state that Eng Kai Er, 24, and Jan Philip, 21, did what they did 'to seek thrill'.
Considering that all those who witnessed their stroll through Holland Village on a busy Saturday evening saw every bit of them there was to see, the pair used umbrellas to keep their faces hidden from press photographers waiting at the Subordinate Courts on Thursday.
Philip was in a full suit with tie, and Eng, in a black skirt suit and cap, sunglasses and a face mask.
The A*Star scholarship holder, who is pursuing a biomedical science course at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, was heard saying to photographers from behind her mask: 'You won't get anything.'
In mitigation, their lawyer William Chan said they did try to check whether public nudity was an offence before their stunt.
Philip, an exchange student at the National University of Singapore, looked up the Penal Code, which said obscene acts were illegal, but he did not realise that public nudity was considered obscene and hence, was an offence. He told Eng about his findings.
But Mr Chan said their walk down Lorong Mambong, which has several restaurants and watering holes, took place 'at the spur of the moment'.
Their lawyer also tried to explain their actions in the context of their experience of a different culture: 'While certain things are accepted overseas, they may not be in Singapore. They are students. Perhaps they were immersed in a different culture,' he said, adding that their act took place late at night, not in broad daylight or near where children were around.
