You have not learnt your lesson.
How dare you turn up inebriated (drunk)?
These are comments you’d expect to hear from your parents or partners. Challenging this notion, a District Judge has used them to reprimand a man in court.
So what exactly did Naveenthiran Thevathas, 21, do in order to face the wrath of District Judge Kenneth Yap?
He appeared to have had one drink too many before his sentencing last Thursday (19 Jul). Reports suggest that Mr Thevathas was so drunk that he was barely able to walk; security officers had to support him as he stepped into the State Court.
Disgusted with his behaviour, the judge said,
This is not 7-Eleven or a polyclinic. How dare you turn up inebriated?
Besides unleashing these harsh comments, the judge also punished Mr Thevathas by revoking his bail and sending him to remand.
Mr Thevathas was being tried for extortion and theft, after he threatened to release the sex tape of a 17-year-old boy. He had demanded that the boy pay $50,000 to prevent the video’s release.
Given his drunken stupor, Mr Yap rescheduled the accused’s sentencing to Monday (23 Jul).
Mr Yap’s takedown of Mr Thevathas continued on sentencing day, as he rejected his lawyer’s plea for leniency.
Well, if he has the courage to commit an offence of this nature, then he should have the courage to face the consequences.
Mr Thevathas’ lawyer had argued that although his client had turned up drunk, he had still turned up. He also said that his client had realised his mistake and could change in the future.
Source
But the judge had none of that.
From your record, you have been in juvenile home since you were 14, and reformative training since you were 18. All this obviously has not had an impact on you. You have not learnt your lesson.
And so Mr Thevathas was then sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in jail, as well as 3 strokes of the cane.
This wasn’t the first time that Mr Thevathas had a run-in with the law.
In 2015, Mr Thevathas, then 18, befriended Indian national Kanthimathi Ramachandran, on the gay dating app Grindr. Mr Thevathas then recorded them having sex.
He planned to extort money from Mr Ramachandran by claiming that he was underage and that he would report the matter to the police.
The courts ultimately found Mr Thevathas guilty on the charges of extortion and sentenced him to reformative training, considering that he was only 18.
Less than 3 years later, Mr Thevathas was back at it.
Moral of the story? Crime does not pay, kids. And neither does day drinking.
Featured image from YouTube.
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