A MAN whose criminal record spanned 20 years was criticised by a District Court judge for parading his nine-year-old daughter in court to pull at the judge's ''heart strings''.
Judge Chua told Hung Lin-fat she would not be manipulated into giving a suspended sentence.
But the judge said Hung would be given a short custodial sentence only because she wanted the least disruption to his daughter's life.
Hung, 36, was convicted of handling a stolen Rolex watch - an alternative charge to robbery. Hung was jailed for eight months.
Sitting in the public gallery was the defendant's daughter whom the judge noted had missed school. ''She was craftily paraded in court to pull at my heart strings,'' Judge Chua said.
Hung was 16 when he committed his first offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
