Amos Yee enters guilty plea on three more charges

A day after he reversed a decision to stand trial and pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to show up at a police station, teen blogger Amos Yee again threw in the towel and admitted to three counts of wounding religious feelings.

Yesterday, the fourth day of his trial, Yee, 17, pleaded guilty to uploading one Facebook post and one blog post that were insulting to Muslims, and another video that Christians would have found offensive. The crimes were committed between November last year and April this year. In the blog post, dated Dec 17, Yee also wrote: "I'm pretty disappointed when Christians and Muslims claim that they are not offended by my comments."

The maximum penalty for each of the three charges is three years' jail and a fine. Principal District Judge Ong Hian Sun will sentence Yee for the crimes at a later date.

Yee's admission of guilt yesterday leaves him with three charges which he is still contesting. He is alleged to have posted one photo and two videos online, between April and May, with the intention of wounding the feelings of Muslims.

The fifth day of the trial, to be heard before District Judge Lim Tse Haw, will be held at a later date. Yee's defence will be called once the prosecution closes its case.

On the first day of the trial last Wednesday, Yee, who does not have a lawyer, confirmed he was contesting all eight charges but told the judge later the same day that he was considering pleading guilty.

After a failed attempt at resolving the case without a trial, the hearing resumed last Thursday, only for Yee to ask, unsuccessfully, for a two-month adjournment.

On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to two charges of not showing up at the police station. The maximum penalty for each of charge is one month's jail and a $1,500 fine.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 25, 2016, with the headline Amos Yee enters guilty plea on three more charges. Subscribe