A 36-year-old woman was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail Friday for bigamy, an offense under Singaporean law. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thuy, a Vietnamese national, also admitted to providing false information to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority regarding her children.
Bigamy Case Details
In 2008, Nguyen married a 54-year-old Singaporean man, 35 years her senior. The marriage was legally registered in Singapore.
Around 2012, Nguyen returned to Vietnam for medical treatment where she began a relationship with a Vietnamese man three years older than herself. She primarily resided in Vietnam during this period.
Knowing a marriage registration in Singapore was not possible due to her existing marriage, Nguyen and her Vietnamese partner registered their marriage in Vietnam on July 28, 2015, after she became pregnant with their child.
Nguyen continued to live in Vietnam, traveling to Singapore only to renew her long-term visit pass. She initiated divorce proceedings from her Singaporean husband in 2016, which were finalized on November 3, 2017. Her second marriage was dissolved in Vietnam on March 9, 2018.
Sentencing and Plea
The prosecution had requested a three-month jail sentence for Nguyen. She appeared in court without legal representation and spoke through an interpreter, expressing remorse.
Nguyen explained to the court that she is a single mother to a 10-year-old son and the primary financial and emotional support for her parents, whose health is declining. Her father suffers from partial paralysis, and her mother is elderly.
The judge acknowledged Nguyen’s family circumstances and imposed a slightly lighter sentence than requested by the prosecution. Bigamy in Singapore carries a potential penalty of up to seven years in jail and a fine.
The court record does not detail how the bigamous marriage came to the attention of authorities.
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