SINGAPORE — A teenager who attacked his father with a steak knife for refusing to give him S$2,000 was not genuinely remorseful and has not accepted responsibility for his actions, a High Court judge said.

Justice See Kee Oon on Monday (Nov 11) dismissed Dylan Loy Zhong Huan’s appeal against his sentence of at least six months of reformative training, saying that he lacked “effective familial supervision” and that his older family members’ “hands-off” approach in disciplining him would unlikely be helpful in rehabilitating him. 

Loy, now a 19-year-old student at Republic Polytechnic, pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt to his father by stabbing and slashing him. Another charge of causing hurt was taken into consideration for sentencing last year.

He committed both offences on Nov 29, 2016.

In appealing against his sentence, Loy sought probation instead of reformative training — a regimented rehabilitation programme for offenders under the age of 21 who commit relatively serious crimes.

Probation does not result in a recorded criminal conviction, and allows young offenders to continue with their education or employment while serving their sentences.

The probation officer had not recommended it for Loy when he was sentenced in a district court earlier.

TURNED VIOLENT WHEN HE COULDN’T GET MONEY

In November 2016, Loy asked his father for S$3,000 for purported survey work. He had moved out of their flat to live with his grandfather about two weeks before that.

When his father gave just S$1,000 and refused to give him the rest, Loy confronted him with the steak knife outside their flat and continuously stabbed him in the back of his head.

Loy also shoved a recyclable bag into his father’s mouth when he screamed for help, shook the man by pulling on his haversack, and kicked him in his face after sitting on him.

A neighbour called the police after hearing the commotion. Loy’s father was taken to the hospital with multiple stab wounds and lacerations, though his injuries did not result in permanent scars.

After the incident, Loy’s family moved out of the flat temporarily for about two months as they were concerned about their safety.

AGGRESSIVE TOWARDS GRANDPARENTS

On Monday, Justice See said that Loy pleaded guilty nine months after being charged with the offences, and had previously wanted to claim trial by saying he acted in self-defence.

His accounts were “often inconsistent” with his parents’ accounts. He also lied to his ex-girlfriend that he was on probation when he was not.

Justice See also addressed a physical confrontation that Loy had with his paternal grandfather in October last year. His grandparents have since withdrawn their statements about the incident.

The accounts by both parties were “dubious and inconsistent”, Justice See said, and it was likely that Loy had lied about the details and that his grandparents pleaded forgetfulness to cover up for him.

The judge noted: “It appeared that the grandparents’ preferred parenting approach was to avoid ‘confronting and angering’ the appellant and to allow him to make his own decisions independently. 

“This ‘hands-off’ approach is telling as it reflects the appellant’s unwillingness to be supervised or disciplined in a familial setting. It does not bode well for the appellant’s longer-term rehabilitative prospects.”

‘PERMISSIVE PARENTING STYLE’ NOT EFFECTIVE

Loy’s grandparents had also expressed a degree of resignation, conceding that the effectiveness of their advice depended on whether Loy chose to accept it.

Their “permissive parenting style” and propensity to protect Loy suggested that there was inadequate effective familial supervision, Justice See said.

Even if Loy was truly remorseful but chose to keep his emotions to himself, as his lawyers tried to argue, Justice See said that he did not “demonstrate cognition or acceptance that he had done wrong for almost two-and-a-half years”.

When he went for a psychiatric assessment right after the attack on his father, he instinctively blamed his father as the aggressor and maintained this stance after he was charged half a year later.

In a psychological report done in April this year, Loy was found to have a moderate risk of family violence. He also did not attend most of the counselling sessions scheduled.

It was only in May, before he was sentenced, that he first said he was willing to make a “public and sincere apology” to his parents. “To date, however, he has yet to do so,” Justice See told the court.

“I am not convinced that he has truly gleaned insight, accepted responsibility and sufficiently internalised his wrongdoing and its consequences.”

Loy will start serving his sentence from Tuesday.