The light sentence has nothing to do with whether he was a
scholar. It may rather reflect on the judge hearing the case. Just
yesterday the Court of Appeal overturned both his decisions to give
out a rather light sentence to a rapist:
"AFTER two appeals and a retrial, prosecutors in a case against a
man who raped and sodomised his former lover finally succeeded in
raising his sentence on Thursday.
Bangladeshi Mohammed Liton Mohammed Syeed Mallik, initially given a
jail term of two years and three months, will now serve six years
and three months.
The 29-year-old former cleaner will also be caned four times for
the 2005 assault, ruled the Court of Appeal.
The former cleaner's case began in the High Court in October last
year.
He was convicted on three charges of raping and sodomising the
31-year-old Singaporean woman and taking nude pictures of
her.
But Justice Choo Han Teck acquitted him on other counts of
rape, sodomy, threatening to hurt her, and stealing the woman's
earrings and personal documents.
The prosecution took the case to the three-judge Appeal Court,
saying that Justice Choo had erred in not allowing a confession
Liton made to the police to be used during the trial.
Last month, the higher court ordered a retrial and asked the trial
judge to reconsider the sentences and acquittals in the light of
the confession.
But Justice Choo maintained the same verdict as he found the
confession vague.
The prosecution appealed again, setting the stage for Thursday's
proceedings.
Arguing against the acquittals, Deputy Public Prosecutor Jaswant
Singh said that Liton's confession supported the victim's
testimony, proving the offences did occur.
He added that Liton's punishment was much lower than the usual 10
years' jail and caning for a rape conviction.
The woman, now unemployed, has reconciled with her husband."
(Straits Times 24 May)
