SINGAPORE: The grandson of the founder of department store OG will not have to pay his former lover's husband prosecution costs, a judge ruled on Tuesday (Aug 13).
Kelvin Liu Chin Chan, 44, was fined S$3,500 last month for harassing civil servant Desmond Tay Kwang Ju, 40, in a private prosecution case brought by Mr Tay.
Advertisement Advertisement Liu had been having an affair with Mr Tay's wife Madam Lin, and is now married to her.
Mr Tay's lawyer Luke Lee had asked the court to order Liu to pay the costs of prosecution. Mr Lee told reporters that this was a five-figure sum for three days of trial, but declined to give more details.
The lawyer had urged District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam to award costs to his client, saying Liu's conduct was "very clearly extravagant and unnecessary".
Liu's lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam told the court that "a robust and thorough defence is an entitlement of any accused" person.
Advertisement Advertisement Just because Liu's counsel were unable to convince the judge of their defence did not mean that they were extravagant, he said.
The judge dismissed the application, which means Liu will not have to pay Mr Tay for the costs of prosecution, as he did not find that the defence was conducted extravagantly nor unnecessarily.
Liu had sent photographs and made telephone calls to Mr Tay between June 2016 and January 2017, while the latter was married to a woman identified in documents only as Madam Lin.
In his messages, he accused Mr Tay of telling "so many lies", told him that he was in "la la land" and sent a photo of Mr Tay's naked torso that Mdm Lin had taken.
Mr Tay said all this was done with the intention of harassing, belittling and humiliating him.
For sending abusive or insulting communications to Mr Tay, intentionally causing him harassment and distress, Liu could have been fined up to S$5,000, jailed for up to six months, or both.
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