A petition calling for a harsher sentence to be imposed on Joshua Robinson, the 39-year-old American expatriate in Singapore who has been jailed four years for sexually assaulting two 15-year-olds, has been gaining traction since going online on March 5, 2017.

Within 48 hours, the petition gathered more than 20,000 signatures.

Details of his case caused widespread public opprobrium after it was reported in the media on March 2.

Within the first 12 hours of the launch of the petition, it received more than 1,000 signatures.

Law minister K Shanmugam said on March 6 that it was his understanding that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) is looking into the case.

Even though Shanmugam said it was not an appropriate time to comment on it as the time for an appeal to be filed is not over yet, he said he understood the “public disquiet” over the sentence, especially parents in particular.

He also said the AGC makes decisions about which charges to proceed based on precedents, and the sentence would depend on previous cases.

On March 2, Robinson pleaded guilty to nine charges in total.

These include: Three for sexually assaulting the girls, five for making and possessing obscene films and one for showing an obscene film to a six-year-old girl.

The petition is started by Sarah Woon, who claims to be a close family friend of the six-year-old girl who Robinson showed an explicit video to at a gym where the child’s father was training at.

Related articles:

Petition calls for harsher punishment for convicted sex fiend Joshua Robinson

Father of 6-year-old girl preyed on by convicted sex fiend speaks out

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