SINGAPORE — Teen blogger Amos Yee was a “normal” child who became antisocial after getting hooked to the Internet, his paternal grandmother said yesterday.

“He is a very smart boy, learns taekwondo,” Madam Chung Nyet Min, 76, said in Mandarin.

She said Amos started to devote much time to his computer when he entered his teens. “He rarely goes out with his friends ... When I asked why he spends so much time on the computer, he told me that there are a lot of things to learn on the computer,” she said at the family’s flat in Shunfu Road in Bishan.

Mdm Chung spoke to TODAY before she was made aware of the court’s verdict. The court yesterday found Amos guilty of two charges, one for making offensive or wounding remarks against Christianity, and another for circulating obscene images.

In court last week, defence lawyer Alfred Dodwell said Amos has been on social media since he was eight, and engaging online is “equivalent to drinking water” for the blogger, who has stopped schooling despite getting good results in the O-Levels.

Mdm Chung, who has been living with Amos and his parents since he was in Primary 1, said: “I am very sad. I hope he will change for the better.”

Asked about Amos’ relationship with his parents, Mdm Chung described it as “normal”. When approached outside the courthouse, Amos’ father, Mr Alphonsus Yee, said he had no comment on the verdict. The teen’s mother, Madam Mary Toh, declined to speak to reporters. YVONNE LIM