By Khushwant Singh

A TEENAGER, appealing against reformative training on the grounds that it was too severe, made a surprising request to a judge to be jailed and caned instead.

Dismissing the appeal, Justice Chao Hick Tin said the request for a harsher sentence is 'almost sadistic'.

'Must you have some marks on your bottom to remind you to change your ways?' he asked.

Danny Koh Jia Gui, who did not have a lawyer, replied that he is sure this would teach him not to break the law again.

When the judge inquired if the 18-year-old is hoping for a shorter jail term than the minimum 1-1/2 years he had to reside in the Reformative Training Centre (RTC), Koh candidly replied that it did cross his mind.

However, it was not his main reason for wanting jail and caning to be imposed.

RTC was not effective and he desperately wanted to change his ways, he said.

Koh was sentenced last month to undergo reformative training after he was caught red-handed splashing paint and defacing walls near the homes of debtors of a loan shark.

He also pleaded guilty to committing traffic offences such as riding a motorcycle without a licence or insurance.

The court heard that Koh had been breaking the law since he was 12 years old.

He had been placed under probation, and done stints in a juvenile home and the Singapore Boys' Home for theft, robbery and rioting.

And he had already been to the RTC in 2007 for robbery and drug offences.

Upon his release, Koh went to work as a runner for an illegal moneylender, getting $60 each time he harassed a debtor.

For this offence, he could be jailed for up to three years and caned four times.

Justice Chao pointed out that the court's primary objective was the rehabilitation of young offenders and urged Koh to make use of his second stint in RTC to change his ways.

In prison, he would be among hardened criminals and would have little chance to rehabilitate, the judge said.

The reform centre is for offenders aged 14 to 21. They are typically there for 1-1/2 to three years, depending on how much progress they make.

The daily routine is a strict regime of foot drills, counselling and education.

Some teen offenders prefer not to be placed in RTC because of the length of detention, lawyers said.

Mr Thangavellu, who has been in practice for 24 years, said: 'A prison term is a harsher punishment but may be shorter so teen offenders mistakenly assume that they are better off being jailed.

'They don't realise that they could end up as career criminals by missing out on the rehabilitation programmes at RTC.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.