wmh law victory

A nasty shock for everyone.


A convicted upskirter has apologised for panning his lawyer in a Google review.

Desmond Ling was highly critical of the performance of Mark Lee, the Joint Managing Director of Singapore firm WMH Law, in a review he posted in 2019.

Lee responded to the review by suing Ling for defamation, telling RollOnFriday the write-up was "wholly untrue and contradicted by contemporaneous evidence".

The pair crossed paths in 2016 after police found an incriminating 20-second video on Ling's mobile phone while investigating him for a different offence.

The clip showed Ling recording his own face at a supermarket checkout, before the view dropped down to show a woman's "panties, buttocks and upper thigh area" from under her skirt.

Lee was assigned to Ling's defence under Singapore's legal aid scheme, but stopped acting for him just as the upskirting trial began. In the court thriller that followed, Ling's ex-girlfriend appeared as a surprise witness for the prosecution to testify that Ling had asked her to lie under oath, and Ling argued that the unidentified upskirting victim was actually a transvestite.

The judge said Ling's contention was, "to put it mildly, completely unconvincing" and found him guilty of "insulting the modesty of a woman".

Ling's second court clash involving Lee went almost as badly. On the first day of the defamation hearing he issued an apology and retraction in which he admitted to publishing three other Google reviews of WMH Law under pseudonyms. Ling accepted that his critiques were untrue, and promised not to restate his allegations "in my capacity or under any fictional aliases", or "by way of procuring some other person and/or entity to do so on my behalf".

Ling's climbdown was a far cry from his bullish stance a few weeks ago, when he told RollOnFriday, "I still do not understand why am I being sued by WMH Law when what I did was merely an expression of my own opinion". 

In a statement on Facebook broadcasting its Managing Director's victory, WMH Law said Lee was of the view that a solicitor's reputation "is of utmost importance" and that "any unfounded attacks must be pursed fervently, by having it ventilated and heard in an open and transparent forum".

Luckily RollOnFriday's recent story about the firm's glossy promotional video was entirely complimentary, so there's no need for Lee to ventilate anyone else.

Tip Off ROF

Comments

Anonymous 06 August 21 10:37

"Ling argued that the unidentified upskirting victim was actually a transvestite"

A genuine lol at the fact that this was an argument that had any relevance whatsoever to the prosecution.

"Yes, well you see m'lud, it was all ok to film up their skirt because they were actually a man - and everyone knows that you can film up a man's skirt, kilt or toga without asking."

"Oh, I see. Well Mr Ling, this has all clearly been a dreadful misunderstanding. You're free to go!"

 

Listening to the incessant outrage on social media you forget how progressive the UK is by global standards sometimes, then a howler like that comes and reminds you.

I read the article in full 06 August 21 12:06

@anon 10.37, it seems it was relevant on account of him being found guilty of “insulting the modesty of a woman”. Need I go on?

Anonymous 06 August 21 13:11

Are you some kind of a simpleton?

Read my post again and you'll see that I'm not unaware of why the argument was relevant to the prosecution - I'm laughing at the fact that it was relevant to the prosecution.

I am, to make this as clear as I possibly can for someone who clearly finds reading a bit difficult, laughing at the fact that Singapore is backward enough to have an offence of "insulting the modesty of a woman" in the first place.

Has that helped, or do you need it in crayon?

Raw nerve 06 August 21 15:50

@anon 1311 Moderately expressed. Not at all like  “the incessant outrage on social media”.

I read the article in full 06 August 21 23:35

@anon1311 If you can stop quivering enough to keep within the lines, then use a crayon by all means.

Anonymous 07 August 21 11:34

Yes can we all have it in crayon please? I for one would really appreciate the different format.

Mountain 07 August 21 19:59

>"I am, to make this as clear as I possibly can for someone who clearly finds reading a bit difficult, laughing at the fact that Singapore is backward enough to have an offence of "insulting the modesty of a woman" in the first place."

Whereas in England and Wales, offenders got away with such behaviour until just 2 years ago:

Upskirting has become a specific criminal offence in England and Wales, punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment.

The scale of the problem has been laid bare by an investigation that reveals allegations reported by police have increased over the last four years, with a 70-year-old woman and schoolchildren as young as seven among the victims in 2018.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/apr/12/upskirting-law-comes-into-force-england-and-wales-cases-rise

Remind me again, which country is more enlightened?

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