20 people who attended New Year’s Eve party in breach of Covid-19 rules fined S$3,500 each

SINGAPORE — Even though prevailing Covid-19 safe distancing laws prohibited more than eight people from gathering in public to socialise, 44 people attended a countdown party in an industrial building on New Year’s Eve last year.

Twenty of them were fined S$3,500 each in a district court on Monday (Nov 8). They pleaded guilty to breaching the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) (Control Order) Regulations 2020 by leaving their homes without a reasonable excuse.

The 14 men and six women, aged between 23 and 34 and all Singaporeans, were:

• Dylan Ang Jun Xiang, 23
• Javier Ang Kun Teng, 23
• Hermen Cheong Zhen Qin, 27
• Chong Jia Hao, 23
• Choo Han Yi, 26
• Caroline Chua Cheng Fang, 24
• Goh Jing Kiat, 24
• Ho Hsien Ni, 31
• Joey Pay, 27
• Kevin Seow Xu Jie, 22
• Khoo Yan Jie, 28
• Koh Wei Jian, 24
• Fabian Lim Zhuang Yu, 25
• Nicole Low Ming Mei, 24
• Gerald Pang Pei Yi, 28
• Qiu Haili, 27
• Sammy Lim Zhi Wei, 27
• Samuel Tan Jia Hao, 26
• Tan Siang Chuan, 34
• Toh Jing En, 23

The court heard that another 24-year-old man, Muhammad Farhan Kazali, had rented a unit at the Tradehub21 building along Boon Lay Way on behalf of Alex Sim Wang Yang, also aged 24. Sim then used the unit as an illegal public entertainment outlet.

Farhan has been dealt with separately, while Sim and the other party attendees will be dealt with later.

In December last year, Sim promoted a countdown party with alcohol included at the unit through word-of-mouth and social media.

The attendees arrived in the late hours of Dec 31 at varying times. However, the operations manager of a security firm was soon informed by his team that groups of people had been seen entering and leaving the unit.

The security team had also told the manager about this happening before. He decided to call the police after monitoring closed-circuit television footage and seeing more people arriving.

Police officers got to the unit at about 1.30am. Loud music was playing through a karaoke system and the place smelled strongly of cigarettes.

The police also observed that it was an office unit and found the 44 party attendees there drinking alcohol, singing karaoke and chatting with one another with no safe distance between the individuals.

The prosecution sought the fine imposed, noting that their conduct deserved “firm sanction” especially given the recent resurgence of the infectious disease. They had also spent between 20 minutes and four hours in the locked unit.

“Given that there was no safe-entry check-in (system), it would have been difficult to contact-trace the accused persons in the event of an outbreak within the group,” the prosecutor added.

Those who flout Covid-19 laws can be jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$10,000, or punished with both.