In a court session that barely lasted an hour, teenager Amos Yee pleaded not guilty to two charges against him and opted not to submit more evidence to the court.

The YouTube blogger looked calm as his charges were read out to him in a full courtroom. District Judge Jasbendar Kaur presided over Amos Yee’s trial.

Yee is being prosecuted on two charges - one for allegedly attacking Christianity with the intention of promoting feelings of religious enmity; and another for allegedly transmitting an lewd depiction of former UK prime minister Margret Thatcher and the late Lee Kuan Yew engaging in an obscene sex act.

The prosecution has stood down this third charge for the time being. It could be taken up against Yee again in the future.

Yee’s parents, Yee’s bailor Vincent Law (pictured below), CPF blogger Roy Ngerng as well as activists Teo Soh Lung and Andrew Loh were present in the packed courtroom, while a queue to enter the court formed outside.

Law and Ngerng were both at the head of the queue; both of them managed to enter after seats were vacated within.

Yee’s lead counsel Alfred Dodwell told Mothership.sg that Yee will not be required to testify on the stand because he had written and signed a police statement during the investigation. The prosecution had applied for the trial to be expedited last Thursday, which was granted by the court.

Yee will continue to be held in remand after his bailor discharged himself. In an interview with The Online Citizen, Law said that he had offered to bail Yee out for a third time, after the 16-year-old breached his bail conditions again, but Yee refused to abide by the bail conditions.

Law told The Straits Times that he hoped that Amos got a good trial. “I never changed my mind about bailing him out. It was his decision and I respect it,” he said. He told reporters after the trial that he had not heard from the court about his show cause hearing since Yee breached the conditions of his bail.

A motion to challenge Yee’s bail conditions yesterday (May 6) was struck down, and Yee opted to continue in remand, refusing to go for psychiatric counselling in exchange for lower bail.

Dodwell said that Yee chose to remain in remand because he believed he had done nothing wrong.

“Amos is very positive; he believes there’s nothing wrong and stands by what he says and this is the very reason why he is in remand, because he refuses to be gagged,” Dodwell said.

The lawyer rebuked members of the press and their coverage of Amos Yee, to cheers from Yee’s supporters.

“He is only 16 years old. Don’t make him out to be a demon.”

The court has been adjourned till 2.30pm tomorrow, as Yee’s counsels requested for more time to look through the prosecution’s evidence.

Related articles:

F&B analogies galore as Court rejects Yee’s challenge to bail conditions

What you need to know about Amos Yee before his trial that starts today

Photos by Ng Yishu

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