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Singaporean ex-lawyer jailed 14 weeks for "harassment, causing hurt"

M Ravi, who was disbarred in May, pleaded guilty to the charges last month.

PETALING JAYA: Singaporean anti-death penalty activist and former lawyer M Ravi has been sentenced to 14 weeks’ jail after pleading guilty to charges of voluntarily causing hurt, harassment and causing a public nuisance.

According to CNA, the 55-year-old was also fined S$5,500 and ordered by a district court to pay S$30 in compensation to one of his victims.

The former human rights lawyer, who was disbarred in May, pleaded guilty to the charges last month.

Among others, he is reportedly accused of attacking two paralegals at a law firm, slapping a man at a Chinatown bookstore, and pushing a restaurant worker and a temple priest in two separate incidents.

Ravi was previously associated with several death row cases in Singapore, including some involving Malaysians.

The prosecution asked the court to jail Ravi for between 18 and 24 weeks, but his lawyers requested no more than seven weeks behind bars.

The Singaporean was fined for disorderly behaviour in 2004 and given a mandatory treatment order (MTO) in 2018 for his bipolar disorder, after he was charged with causing hurt and trespassing.

Deputy principal district judge Luke Tan rejected the defence’s request to put mitigating weight on Ravi’s mental health disorder, saying he had been aware of his condition for many years but did not comply with treatment and medication.

The judge said Ravi needed to realise how failure to undergo treatment and medication, despite the MTO, would lead to consequences for himself as well as the public.

Ultimately, only by the accused helping himself through being more disciplined and determined… can he hope to adequately address his bipolar disorder, and avoid causing harm to others, as well as damage to himself, in the future, said Tan.

Ravi, who was jailed 21 days last year for contempt of court, later apologised to the victims of his actions and admitted that he should have been more careful about preventing a bipolar relapse.

He nonetheless expressed disappointment with the court’s decision, saying that sending a convict with a mental health condition to prison would not tackle the underlying causes of his or her behaviour and actions.

“After my sentence, I hope to make amends to not only the people I have hurt but also members of the public who have lost confidence in me for my relapse.

Going forward, I hope to make amends in part by volunteering and advocating for the rights of persons with psychological conditions, he said in a statement.

Source: FMT, Staff, August 2, 2024

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde



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