Company manager fined for locking 3 ‘troublemaker’ foreign workers in room during circuit breaker

• Shaun Pang tried to discipline three workers by locking them in a room 
• He locked them up a second time after they left company grounds to buy alcohol during stay-home curbs
• They were locked up for 42 days in total until they complained to the authorities

SINGAPORE — When three foreign workers staying in his company’s factory-converted dormitory kept defying the law, Shaun Pang Tong Heng decided to take matters into his own hands.

Pang locked them up in a room twice, the second time for 39 days, until one of them called the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to complain.

On Thursday (Sept 17), Pang, 41, was ordered to pay a fine of S$9,000. 

He pleaded guilty to three counts of wrongful confinement, with another three charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

THE FIRST INCIDENT

Pang was told on May 12 that two construction workers — Mr Pandiyan Jayakanthan, 23, and Mr Ganesan Pandi, 24 — were disturbing another worker.

One of them had also previously caused an accident after driving a lorry without a licence, Pang’s lawyer told the court.

At the time, the police were also investigating Mr Muthuraj Thangaraj, a 39-year-old construction supervisor, for a separate unrelated incident of drink-driving.

Pang decided that they were “troublemakers” and proceeded to lock them up in a confined area that comprised a main room and bathroom, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Eric Hu told the court. On May 15, he released them when they complained that the place was warm and had many mosquitoes.

THE SECOND INCIDENT

Pang then asked them to move into another room, this time left unlocked, with three beds and air-conditioning.

Three days later, he saw a video clip of Mr Pandiyan and Mr Ganesan leaving the company grounds. He told his employee to lock them up again.

Pang told them that if they did not stay put, he would call the police. During that month, the Government had imposed a circuit breaker to restrict movement and activities due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pang's employee secured a metal fence surrounding the confined area with a padlock. The three workers stayed there from May 19 to June 26.

The main room in the area measured 3.4m by 4.3m by 3m, with three beds, fans and a water cooler. The workers could use the bathroom, Wi-Fi connection and their mobile phones, and were also given three meals a day.

On June 26, MOM deployed a group of officers there and they told Pang to release the workers immediately.

SCALED WALL TO BUY ALCOHOL

In mitigation, Pang’s lawyer Md Noor E Adnaan sought to explain the “predicament” that his client had been facing.

Besides their separate incidents, all three workers had also been caught drinking on the company premises, which was not allowed.

After they were released the first time, Mr Noor said that two of them had climbed the company walls, bought alcohol and returned to the dormitory. They were found “smelling of alcohol” in their room later.

“One might think it’s foreign workers going on a frolic of their own, but we must view this against the backdrop of the pandemic,” the lawyer said.

Pang had treated them well, gotten them supplies and even bought a new Wi-Fi router for them on June 9, Mr Noor added.

When District Judge Prem Raj asked why Pang did not approach the police, the lawyer said that Pang thought the MOM was the correct authority handling it. 

He had emailed them about the workers leaving the premises and was waiting for a response. 

When DPP Hu pointed out that MOM had later responded and taken action against the three workers by putting them under an employment ban, Mr Noor conceded that this had been the case.

In sentencing Pang, District Judge Raj said that he accepted the circumstances, but added that Pang “really should have called the police”.

For each wrongful confinement charge, he could have been jailed up to three years or fined, or received both penalties.