A 36-year-old Vietnamese woman was sentenced to 12 weeks’ jail on Friday (Dec 19) after pleading guilty to bigamy, an offence under Singapore law.
Nguyen Thi Phuong Thuy, a Vietnamese national, also admitted to lying to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) by declaring that she did not have children. This offence was taken into consideration during sentencing.
According to CNA, Nguyen married a 54-year-old Singaporean man in 2008, when she was 19 years old. Their marriage was legally registered in Singapore. The man was 35 years older than her.
Around 2012, Nguyen returned to Vietnam for medical treatment. During her stay, she met a Vietnamese man three years older than her, and the two began a romantic relationship. Nguyen largely remained in Vietnam during this period.
Despite knowing she was still legally married in Singapore and therefore unable to register another marriage there, Nguyen proceeded to register a second marriage in Vietnam on Jul 28, 2015, as she was pregnant with the Vietnamese man’s child.
After the second marriage, Nguyen stayed in Vietnam and only returned to Singapore periodically to renew her long-term visit pass.
In 2016, she returned to Singapore to initiate divorce proceedings against her Singaporean husband. Their marriage was officially dissolved on Nov 3, 2017. Nguyen’s second marriage in Vietnam was later dissolved on Mar 9, 2018.
The court was not told how the authorities discovered the bigamous marriage.
The prosecution sought a three-month jail sentence, citing the seriousness of the offence. Bigamy carries a maximum punishment of seven years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
Nguyen, who was unrepresented, broke down in tears as she addressed the court through an interpreter. She pleaded for leniency, saying she was now a single mother to a 10-year-old boy who depended on her.
She also told the court that her father suffers from partial paralysis and her mother is elderly.
“I’m the pillar of strength in the family, (to) take care of my family financially and emotionally,” she said.
“So I hope for leniency not only to take care of my son but to take care of my parents as well.”
In sentencing, the judge said he would impose a slightly lighter punishment than what the prosecution had sought, ultimately sentencing Nguyen to 12 weeks’ imprisonment.
Image via google for illustration
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