A viral prank involving a licked straw has cost a French teenager €406 in Singapore, where a brief stunt at an orange juice vending machine quickly became a criminal matter.
Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 19, pleaded guilty to a public nuisance charge after posting a video on social media showing him placing a straw he had licked back into the machine’s dispenser.
The video spread widely on Instagram soon after the 12 March incident, drawing public anger and prompting his arrest in a city state known for rigidly enforcing rules on cleanliness, hygiene and public order.
In sentencing him, Judge Kelly Ho said probation or a community-based sentence would not be ordered, citing Maximilien’s “age and nature of the offence”.
The judge also noted that Mr Maximilien “pleaded guilty at the earliest possible opportunity”.
Dressed in a dark suit and white shirt, with no tie, Mr Maximilien stood quietly in the dock as the sentence was delivered. His parents watched from the public gallery.
The family left court soon after the hearing and did not speak to reporters.
Defence counsel Kalidass Murugaiyan had urged the court to impose a fine rather than probation, arguing in mitigation that such an outcome would be more practical.
The lawyer said Mr Maximilien’s family had struggled to secure a guardian in Singapore, while a community-based sentence would be difficult to carry out because he was due to return to France in September to resume his studies.
“He is fully sorry for having caused all this trouble,” Mr Murugaiyan told the judge, adding that the teenager had received counselling from his family.
Singapore has long taken a hard line on behaviour viewed as disruptive in public spaces.
Last year it deported an Australian man after he completed a nine-day jail term for rushing film star Ariana Grande during the Asian premiere of “Wicked: For Good”.
