SCMP, October 17, 2002
One can lead a horse to water, but one can't force it to drink. Despite his relative youth, a 22-year-old should have no difficulty understanding the moral that one should take responsibility for one's acts.
Many will feel that the 240 hours of community service that teen idol Nicholas Tse has been sentenced to perform, on top of the two weeks he has already spent behind bars, is not commensurate with the serious offence of perverting the course of public justice.
After all, the man who claimed to be the driver of the car that he had crashed was jailed for four months, while the policeman who acquiesced to letting him off was sentenced to six months' imprisonment.
In passing sentence yesterday, magistrate Allan Wyeth remarked that Tse's role in the crime was passive and the 14 days he had already served in prison had already delivered the star 'a loud and clear wake-up call'.
He has a point. But Tse could have said no to those who offered to 'help' him by making arrangements for a bogus driver to take responsibility for the crash.