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Five charged with circuit breaker offences including man caught five times not wearing a face mask

SINGAPORE — Four men and a woman were charged with circuit breaker-related offences on Friday (May 15).

From left: Cheng Fengzhao, 37, Kumaran Roy Rajendran, 29, and Tan Han Yong, 76, were charged with circuit-breaker-related offences.

From left: Cheng Fengzhao, 37, Kumaran Roy Rajendran, 29, and Tan Han Yong, 76, were charged with circuit-breaker-related offences.

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SINGAPORE — Four men and a woman were charged with circuit breaker-related offences on Friday (May 15).

The accused persons are:

Yee Choon Wah, 52

He faces one charge each of committing a rash act that endangered human life, committing mischief, leaving his home and failing to wear a face mask on April 18.

Yee, who appeared in court through a video link, said that he intends to write to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to withdraw the latter two charges. 

He told the court that he had only gone out “for a few seconds” and that a witness has seen him wearing a face mask.

The police said on Friday that Yee had grown frustrated after smelling cigarette smoke purportedly coming from two of his neighbours’ units at a Balam Road block of flats.

According to court documents, he allegedly used a golf club to smash one of their windows from the common corridor that evening, causing S$400 in damages.

Glass shards then struck a female neighbour’s forearm.

Yee said that he intends to plead guilty to the rash act and mischief charges and will return to court on May 29 for a pre-trial conference.

Permjit Singh Khazan Singh, 60

He faces 11 assorted charges including causing hurt to a public servant and failing to wear a face mask on five separate occasions.

Court documents showed that at the accident and emergency department of Singapore General Hospital on Feb 7, he allegedly hit an auxiliary police officer on her neck and struck another officer on the side of his head.

It was not stated what he was there for.

About two months later on April 12, he is said to have pulled a plank from a bench at Fort Canning Hill and then hurled Hokkien vulgarities at a senior manager of the National Parks Board.

He had been sitting on the bench which was cordoned-off at the time. Circuit breaker measures were then already in force.

Later that evening, he is accused of meeting another man at a bus stop along Stamford Road for social purposes.

The police said that the pair were drinking there, and they were each ordered to pay a composition sum of S$300. However, Permjit did not pay the fine.

A week later, on April 19, he allegedly failed to wear a face mask outside a Sheng Siong supermarket at McNair Road.

Three days later, he was caught outside the DBS Bank branch along Towner Road not wearing a face mask again. 

Later that evening and the following day, he purportedly did not wear a face mask again around his St George’s Lane flat in Kallang.

On a fifth occasion on April 27, he was caught not wearing a face mask around 4am at the Bendemeer Market and Food Centre.

He will be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for two weeks and will return to court on May 29. 

Cheng Fengzhao, 37

The Chinese national is accused of allowing someone named Foong Seow Peng to enter her Jalan Kemaman condominium unit on April 19 and May 5.

She was arrested on the second occasion during a police anti-vice operation, and was investigated for being involved in vice activities, said the police.

Court documents did not reveal further details about Foong. 

Cheng said that she intends to plead guilty to her two charges and will return to court on June 3.

Kumaran Roy Rajendran, 29

He faces three charges over an incident that allegedly occurred at the Commonwealth Crescent Market on April 18.

He is said to have pointed his middle finger at an SG Clean ambassador, scolded a vulgarity and pushed another ambassador when he was leaving the market. He also did not wear a face mask properly at all times, instead using his shirt collar to cover his nose and mouth.

The police said that the ambassadors had advised him to wear a face mask three hours before this incident, but he ignored them and walked away.

He will return to court on May 29 when he is expected to plead guilty.

Tan Han Yong, 76

The Indonesian man and foreign worker dormitory director allegedly hurled Hokkien and Mandarin vulgarities at two police officers.

The first incident happened in the evening of April 17 at a dormitory along Kampong Ampat in MacPherson while the second incident took place about an hour later at the Police Cantonment Complex.

The police said that they received a call for help that day, as Tan had behaved aggressively towards Ministry of Manpower (MOM) officers who were inspecting the dormitory. Tan allegedly scolded police officers during the first incident despite repeated warnings not to do so, the police added.

A police prosecutor said that the AGC is reviewing a potential new charge for Tan under the Infectious Diseases Act — of hindering an MOM officer from conducting an inspection.

In court on Friday, Tan told the court in Mandarin that he has been a businessman for a long time and never used vulgarities of this sort.

“I invited them to come down, I did not obstruct… I am the boss, I have never done anything not to cooperate with the government,” he said, adding that he would not plead guilty.

He will return to court in a week.

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