I must admit I was surprised by the fine of $1,000 imposed on Woffles Woo for paying someone to take a speeding rap for him.

Such offences are undoubtedly serious, as they seek to undermine the course of justice. Others who have committed similar offences have been jailed. I do not know what the Judge took into account in making his decision, and I accept that no two cases are the same. However, I hope there will be an opportunity for the court to explain its reasons and how other cases where jail terms were imposed were distinguished. That will promote transparency and confidence in our legal system, and deal with allegations of unfair treatment, which have already appeared on the net.

I believe that part of the problem is that most times, the law gives judges very little discretion in sentencing – it is usually a fine or jail or both. There may be occasions where a fine is too lenient, while jail may be too harsh. Further, if an offender cannot pay a fine, jail is the default. That creates two problems – it discriminates between those can pay and those who cannot; and it converts a light punishment to a heavy one.

I would prefer if the court had more flexibility in sentencing so that the punishment truly fits the crime. For example, where a person pays another to take the rap for a traffic offence to preserve his driving licence, wouldn’t a more appropriate punishment be to suspend his licence? Inflict on the offender what he was trying by criminal means to avoid. Likewise for less serious cases of vandalism, get the offender to clean up more than he has damaged.

  HRI KUMAR 

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Reference to :

•  Plastic surgeon Woffles Wu fined S$1,000 ~ CNA
• Sales executive jailed for asking others to take rap for traffic offence ~ CNA 

• I feel the $1,000 fine is too lenient for getting someone else to take the rap for him, especially when the court heard that Wu also made Mr Kuan take the rap for him for another speeding offence in September 2005.

• it is the maximum fine, but he could have gotten a jail sentence (up to 6 months) on top of the fine.

• Now where is the justice?Are Singapore judges blind or what?This chap earns hundreds thousand if not millions of dollars,and he get away with just a mere S$1,000 fine.Can the Government understand why most Singaporean are pissed off with this kind of things and others?Just like all the reckless drivers who ran over and killed the pedestrians,but just get away with a mere fine and ban from driving for a few years.

•  With due respect, to judge the severity of the penalty by the salary a person earns , is not exactly fair as well.

• He wasn’t fined for speeding but for providing false information to the police in Nov 2006, he had also provided false information by making Mr Kuan take the rap for him for another speeding offence in September 2005. This charge was taken into consideration during the sentencing on June 12.
  I’m just curious how many times must he have provided false information to the police before it warrants a jail sentence instead of just a fine.

• Wrong values! He thinks he can use his money to trample people. Ought to be given a heavy sentence!

• Woffles case was dated back to 2005 and 2006 while the sales executive was in 2008-2009.

• Was there any mention of the change in law and charges for different offences. While Woffles case was speeding in excess of 20km/h, the other case was fail to stop at red light.
  I believe there was mention and reminder of asking someone to take the rap by the police and courts before. not sure in which year.

• The Law was changed in between these 2 cases;
  “The Penal Code was amended in 2008 to make providing misleading information to the traffic police a more serious offence.
  Now it could be punished with up to seven years in jail and/or a fine of up to $10,000.”
  ~ Plastic surgeon Woffles Wu fined $1,000 for misleading traffic police- Straits Times
  Prominent plastic surgeon Dr Woffles Wu fined $1,000 for a traffic offence. — ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG 

• Maybe it is time for the courts to refine the fines system. after many years of inflation. fines are still the same and rich people may find it cheap to pay for fines. if you don’t feel the pinch, maybe you wouldn’t learn.

•  I feel this is not so much that the court has been too lenient. Similar to courts world wide, it’s a tussle between prosecutor n defence lawyer. Laws can be adjusted in time to cover wider areas or strengthen weaknesses, but it’s still a matter of having a strong defence to get off heavy sentences. Unfortunately, system like this means those who can afford it can get the best lawyer, like everything else in reality. That’s why I wonder what mitigation his lawyer managed to cook up for him , which would not be the case now as he got the maximum fine, but how did he managed to stay the prosecutor so he is only charged with giving false information! Conversely, we might be having a weak prosecutor on the case! Also, he might still be charged with other offence at another later date.