Covid-19: 2 S’poreans, foreign pilot to be charged after breaching stay-home notices

SINGAPORE — Two Singaporean citizens and an American commercial pilot will be charged in court on Tuesday (April 21) after breaching their stay-home notices, which are issued to people returning from abroad to prevent imported Covid-19 cases.

One of the Singaporeans left his Bukit Batok flat on three occasions last month, while the other spent about 15 minutes outdoors buying groceries and cigarettes.

The pilot, meanwhile, left the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport hotel two days after arriving in Singapore and took the train to Chinatown Point, said the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Monday.

The three to be charged are:

Chong Chun Wah, 48

According to the ICA, he returned to Singapore from Indonesia on March 17 and was ordered to stay home from then till March 31.

He left his Bukit Batok home on March 24, took a bus to Jurong East to get some food and spent about one to one-and-a-half hours outside.

On March 28, he went to check his mailbox at the void deck of his block of flats for about five minutes.

On March 29, he went to a Bukit Batok coffee shop to get food, spending about 30 to 40 minutes outdoors.

He will be charged under Section 21(A) of the Infectious Diseases Act, which forbids anyone who knows or suspects that he carries or has come into contact with the disease from exposing others to the risk of infection. 

He will also be charged under the Infectious Diseases (Covid-19 — Stay Orders) Regulations 2020.

Siti Wan Su’Aidah Samsuri, 25

She returned from Australia on March 25 and was given a stay-home notice from then till April 8.

On March 30, she walked from her Woodlands home to Vista Point shopping mall to get groceries and cigarettes, spending about 15 to 20 minutes there. She did not respond to multiple calls to her mobile phone from ICA, as part of enforcement checks.

She will face charges under the Infectious Diseases (Covid-19 — Stay Orders) Regulations 2020, as well as the Infectious Diseases (Measures to Prevent Spread of Covid-19) Regulations 2020.

Brian Dugan Yeargan, 44

The American pilot arrived in Singapore from Australia on April 3 and was issued a 30-day short-term visit pass. ICA did not state if he was on the job.

He was then given a stay-home notice from then till April 17.

Two days after landing in Singapore, he left his accommodation at the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport hotel, took the train to City Hall MRT Station, and walked to Chinatown Point shopping mall to get some personal items. He spent about three hours outdoors.

According to his online LinkedIn profile, he works as a pilot for FedEx Express and as an instructor pilot for the Alaska Air National Guard. He also flew for Alaska Airlines.

He will be charged under the Infectious Diseases (Covid-19 — Stay Orders) Regulations 2020.

Anyone convicted of an offence under the Infectious Diseases Act and its regulations can be fined up to $10,000, jailed up to six months, or both.

On Monday, the ICA said it may also cancel offenders’ immigration facilities and ban them from re-entering the Republic, besides prosecuting them under the law.

Three others have been hauled to court for similarly breaching their notices.

One of them — Alan Tham Xiang Sheng, 34 — pleaded guilty to doing so in order to have a bak kut teh dinner at the Foodfare hawker centre at Kampung Admiralty. He had faced ire from the public after posting about his meal on Facebook. He has yet to be sentenced.