Crowd waits hours for trial to begin as teen pleads not guilty
Mr Alfred Dodwell, Amos Yee's lawyer, leaves the State Courts after Yee's trial was adjourned on May 7, 2015. Photo: Jason Quah
SINGAPORE — They came long before 9.30am today (May 7) to get a ringside seat in the public gallery of Court 7 at the State Courts. But after getting their seats — even as another group queued outside hoping to get in — the 32 members of the public had to wait for more than one-and-a-half hours before they could catch a glimpse of Amos Yee.
The 16-year-old blogger was led into the courtroom at about 11.10am, moments before the hearing began.
The session lasted less than 20 minutes, starting with Deputy Public Prosecutor Hay Hung Chun taking the court through the agreed statement of facts and documents tendered.
Speaking with an accent, Amos pleaded not guilty to the two charges and opted not to testify from the witness stand after District Judge Jasvender Kaur told him that no adverse inference would be drawn. Defence lawyer Alfred Dodwell tendered three exhibits and said he needed time to study the prosecution’s exhibits. Ms Kaur adjourned the hearing to this afternoon.
Outside the courts, Mr Dodwell said that Amos had already explained himself in his statement to the police, which is among the documents tendered.
Amos is happy with the conduct of the case, and Mr Dodwell said the media should not try to portray his client as a psychopath. “He’s only 16, don’t make him out as some kind of demon,” he said, to loud cheers from Amos’ supporters.
At a hearing on Wednesday to vary Amos’ bail conditions, DPP Hay had called him a troubled person needing psychiatric help after learning that Amos’ mother had taken him to the Institute of Mental Health last month.
Amos’ parents were in court today, as well as Mr Vincent Law, who had bailed Amos out earlier but withdrew bail after the teenager flouted bail conditions; blogger Roy Ngerng; and ex-political detainee and retired lawyer Teo Soh Lung.
