Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Covid-19: Man jailed 6 weeks for breaching stay-home notice to have bak kut teh

SINGAPORE — A 34-year-old man who breached his 14-day stay-home notice to have bak kut teh (pork rib soup) in public after returning from abroad last month was sentenced to six weeks’ jail on Thursday (April 23).

Alan Tham leaving the State Courts on April 7, 2020. He was sentenced to six weeks' jail for breaching his stay-home notice to have bak kut teh.

Alan Tham leaving the State Courts on April 7, 2020. He was sentenced to six weeks' jail for breaching his stay-home notice to have bak kut teh.

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — A 34-year-old man who breached his 14-day stay-home notice to have bak kut teh (pork rib soup) in public after returning from abroad last month was sentenced to six weeks’ jail on Thursday (April 23). 

Alan Tham Xiang Sheng became the first individual to be dealt with for an offence related to Covid-19. 

Five others have been similarly charged and their cases are still pending before the courts.

Stay-home notices are issued to those returning from abroad to prevent the spread of imported Covid-19 cases.

In passing sentence, Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun said that a deterrent sentence was needed to “send a clear and unequivocal message to the accused and like-minded persons that it is incumbent on them to adhere strictly to stay-home-notice requirements, so as not to expose the public to the danger of contracting the dreaded Covid-19”.

Tham’s disregard of his stay-home notice was “socially reprehensible”, and he had not remained at home despite acknowledging the notice and confirming he could be prosecuted for non-compliance, the judge added.

Nevertheless, the judge noted that Tham’s risk of transmission was low.

Tham pleaded guilty last week to one charge under the Infectious Diseases Act, which states that a person who knows or has reason to suspect that he is a carrier or contact of an infectious disease shall not expose others to the risk of infection.

He could have been jailed up to six months, fined up to S$10,000 or faced both penalties.

The prosecution had pushed for 10 to 12 weeks’ imprisonment, while his lawyers — Mr Josephus Tan and Mr Cory Wong from Invictus Law Corporation — asked for the maximum fine or up to two weeks’ jail.

Tham will begin serving his sentence on April 30 and remains out on bail.

WHAT THAM DID

The court previously heard that after returning to Singapore on March 23, Tham headed to the Kopitiam food centre at Changi Airport Terminal 3 and a money changer at Peninsula Plaza to change his leftover Myanmar currency back to Singapore currency.

He then went home to take a shower before heading out for a bak kut teh dinner at the Foodfare hawker centre at Kampung Admiralty.

The court also heard that Tham did not wear a face mask and was out for more than four hours as he headed to at least six public places — two food courts, the money changer, two bus stops and an NTUC FairPrice supermarket — between 3.40pm and 10pm that day. 

He took two private-hire car rides to stop by Peninsula Plaza before heading home from the airport, and a public bus to get to Kampung Admiralty, which is about 800m from his Woodlands home.

Tham admitted that he was “quickly chastised” by his Facebook friends after he posted photos of his bak kut teh dinner on social media along with the caption “Come back to Singapore must eat our local food~”.

THAM BREACHED NOTICE ON ‘DAY 0’: LAWYERS

Senior District Judge Ong had asked both sides to respond to queries as to why Tham was not tested for Covid-19, and to address contentions over an advisory letter that the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) had issued to Tham two days after he returned.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kenneth Chin said the letter had merely “advised” Tham to comply with the stay-home notice, and made no mention that he would not be prosecuted. The authorities had not yet referred the matter to the Attorney-General’s Chambers at the time.

Tham was charged in court on April 7 after serving his stay-home notice.

Mr Tan and Mr Wong argued that the advisory "reads like a warning”, and showed that enforcement agencies had assessed Tham’s case to be of low harm.

The lawyers added that those returning from Myanmar were not required to be taken directly to a designated hotel and their client’s stay-home notice did not impose movement restrictions on him before he returned home.

Tham was also the only one among those prosecuted so far who had breached his stay-home notice on “Day 0”, Mr Tan added.

In an interview with The Straits Times after screenshots of his Facebook post went viral last month, Tham said that an airport official had given him the impression that the stay-home notice started only on March 24, the day after his return. 

The court heard last week that the ICA officer who served Tham the stay-home notice had at no point in time made any representation to him that the notice started only on March 24.

DPP Chin said on Thursday that this showed Tham was unremorseful, as he had attempted to cast blame on the ICA officer. The errands he ran were not urgent or essential either.

The prosecutor told the court: “The accused makes himself sound like a victim of an administrative mishap, but he had committed an offence of exposing others to the risk of infection.

“A person who suspects he had Covid-19 may simply delay going home and spend hours and hours outside… That cannot be the law’s intent and the sentence imposed must accurately reflect this.”

As for why Tham was not tested, DPP Chin said that routine testing of asymptomatic patients under a stay-home notice was not necessary under prevailing Ministry of Health policies, and that it was not possible to test everyone for it. If they developed symptoms, they would have to receive medical attention.

Nevertheless, the prosecution noted that just because Tham was not positive for Covid-19, it did not mean he exhibited low harm.

He had exposed others to the risk of infection while going out, as he might have had the coronavirus at the time, DPP Chin added.

Related topics

stay-home notice breach Covid-19 coronavirus

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.