A Vietnamese woman was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail in Singapore on Dec. 19 after admitting to bigamy, stemming from a years-long double marriage across two countries.
Nguyen Thi Phuong Thuy, 36, pleaded guilty to secretly marrying another man in Vietnam and having a child while still legally married to a Singaporean husband, CNA reported. Bigamy is a criminal offense in Singapore.
Court documents showed that Thuy married a Singaporean man in 2008, when she was 19 and he was 54. The marriage was registered in Singapore, Malay Mail reported.
Around 2012, Thuy returned to Vietnam for medical treatment, where she entered a relationship with a Vietnamese man. Despite knowing she was still legally married in Singapore, the couple registered their marriage in Vietnam in July 2015 after she became pregnant.
During this period, Thuy largely lived in Vietnam and returned to Singapore only to renew her long-term visit pass. She also falsely declared to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority that she had no children, a charge that was taken into consideration during sentencing.
Thuy later initiated divorce proceedings in Singapore in 2016, with the marriage officially dissolved in November 2017. Her second marriage in Vietnam ended in March 2018.
Court documents had no details on how authorities uncovered the bigamous marriage.
Prosecutors sought a three-month jail term, but the judge imposed a slightly lighter sentence after hearing mitigation. Speaking through an interpreter, Thuy broke down in court, saying she is now a single mother raising a 10-year-old boy and supporting elderly parents, including a father with partial paralysis.
Under Singapore law, bigamy carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment and a fine.
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