Howard Shaw not appealing 12-week jail sentence
[UPDATE on 17 Sept at 8:50pm] Former executive director of the Singapore Environmental Council Howard Shaw has chosen not to appeal his 12-week jail sentence, which he was given for his single count of paid sex with an underaged callgirl, reported local media.
According to The Business Times, the grandson of Shaw Organisation founder Runme Shaw allowed his appeal period to lapse last week.
He is set to commence his jail term on 5 October instead of the 14th of this month.
The scion of the prominent Shaw family, 41, was sentenced in July at the Sub Courts, but his lawyer Harpeet Singh said he would be appealing the sentence.
Shaw pleaded guilty to paying for sex with the girl in October 2010 at Hotel 81 Bencoolen and was convicted in June. The girl, who was 17 at the time of the act, cannot be named due to a gag order imposed by the court.
Singh applied for a non-custodial sentence for Shaw, arguing that his client's payment of the underaged callgirl's services had been an honest and reasonable mistake.
However, senior district judge See Kee Oon rejected the request, noting that Shaw was more than twice the girl's age.
The judge also did not agree that the incident had been an honest and reasonable mistake given that Shaw did not make the effort to inquire about the girl's age.
Shaw could have been sentenced a maximum of seven years.
Shaw is among 51 men charged with having sex with the underaged prostitute.
The former principal of Pei Chun Public School, Lee Lip Hong, 39, was the first man to be convicted in this high-profile online vice-ring case.
He was sentenced to nine weeks’ jail but released after six weeks for good behaviour.
