SINGAPORE: Women's rights activists have praised the sentencing of a Swiss national accused of having commercial sex with a minor has been sentenced to jail for four months and three weeks. However, they said the sentence should have been tougher. "We battle every day and we expect some better justice from our courts when it comes to sexual violence against women, but it is a start," Gloria Yu, a 44-year-old social worker and women's rights activist, told Bikyanews.com. "This is going to get better, we believe." 41-year-old Juerg Buergin was found guilty on both charges of having paid sex with an underage girl following a three-day trial last month. In his sentencing, District Judge Eddy Tham said the former UBS executive showed no signs of remorse and was "reckless" in not verifying the age of the minor. Buergin was the first of the 51 men in the online vice ring cases to claim trial – a fact which the district judge said made a "significant difference" in his case. So far, 18 men had been dealt with and on average, each man was jailed for about 12 weeks. The judge added that he had considered sentencing Buergin to 12 weeks as "a starting point" if Buergin had pleaded guilty. However, when the father-of-two claimed trial, the judge said that Buergin should have considered "not being afforded the discount that had been given in previous cases as a sign of remorse." The judge added that the father-of-two "clearly did not take any reasonable steps to avoid falling foul of the law." BN
