Reformative training instead of detention for young offender

Juvenile offender, Tan Yong Sheng, a full-time National Serviceman who was convicted of two offences committed in 2018, asked the judge if he could receive detention barracks (DB) instead of being sent to reformative training during his sentencing.

District Judge May Mesenas answered him, “I am not the military court.”

She then gave the 21-year-old Tan a sentence of at least 12 months of reformative training at the Changi Prison Complex, which he will serve after the completion of his NS conscription in early April.

Tan was convicted for the possession of a knuckleduster, which is a brass knuckle classified as a scheduled weapon under the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act.

He also had a second conviction for threatening to upload the nude photographs and videos of a 15-year-old student on social media.

The judge made the abovementioned remark because DB falls under the jurisdiction of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), and is specifically for the offences in the military.

Tan’s bail was set at S$15,000. His bail was posted by his mother who gave an undertaking to the judge that he would appear for reformative training in April. Tan’s mother also gave an assurance that he would keep to his 10pm to 6am curfew.

The judge also told him stay out of trouble for his remaining period of National Service. According to Judge Mesenas, “If he reoffends, he will be sentenced as an adult. That will complicate matters.”

The details of his offences are as follows:

On March 31, at 1:50 am, Tan was at a gaming cafe at Lorong 39 Geylang with a friend, when they had an altercation with some other young men. A man named Sunny Tan Leng was assaulted.
The young men planned to continue the fight at a footpath along Tampines Industrial Avenue 3 but were stopped by the police, who had been alerted to the altercation. The police discovered that Tan had a knuckleduster on him.

In the second offence, Tan had met a girl via the dating app, Tinder, and pressured her to have sex with him, failing which, he said he would share her nude photos and videos on social media.

Tan tried to blackmail the girl by setting a deadline of 9.15pm on September 19 but she filed a police report regarding the matter.