Case of 19 y/o French student who licked iJooz straw postponed to July 30

SINGAPORE: Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, the 19-year-old student from France who made the news earlier this year after posting a video of himself licking a straw from an iJooz vending machine and then putting it back into the dispenser, was expected to enter a guilty plea on Monday (July 13).

However, the case was adjourned to July 30 upon the prosecution’s request because his student pass may be revoked if he is convicted.

According to State Prosecuting Officer Sukhdev Kaur, this would affect his sentencing. The prosecutors sought time to clarify with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority whether Didier may continue his studies after his conviction. 

District Judge Kelly Ho then adjourned the case.

The French teen shared a video of himself in an Instagram Story on March 12 licking the straw and then returning it to its container with a caption that read that the “city is not safe.”

Court documents said that the teen posted the video even as he was aware that it “would or would probably cause annoyance to the public.”

Didier is a student at ESSEC Business School, a French school with campuses in several countries. He was charged on April 24 with committing mischief and being a public nuisance. If he is convicted of both charges, he could be jailed for more than two years, as well as fined thousands of dollars, or both. His parents flew to Singapore as the case progressed. 

After the incident, iJooz sanitised the dispenser and replaced all 500 straws in it, with a total worth of S$5 in total. The company, which filed a police report over the incident, also said that it will upgrade its vending machines to have individually packaged straws and dispensers that only unlock after transactions are completed. 

ESSEC Business School is also carrying out internal investigations on the matter.

While the initial incident made the news in Singapore, as the teen is a foreign national, his story has been covered by international news agencies.

Commenters online have, by and large, shown little pity on the French teen, seeming to believe that he needs to be taught a lesson.

“Parents gotta teach their kids, or strangers will,” a Facebook user remarked.

“Totally deserves it,” wrote another.

“The kind of biohazard it poses if the perpetrator is carrying a disease. This is not a laughing matter,” an Instagram user commented.

“Public hygiene concern. Ppl need to stop doing things for ‘likes’ on social media. Very careless behaviour. Good on Singapore for teaching a lesson. Nobody should be behaving like that,” another chimed in. /TISG

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