International school teacher fined for swearing at police officers while drunk outside Jurong Point mall

SINGAPORE — What was meant to be a night out with friends and colleagues turned ugly, after Gary Joseph Bates Holland argued with another man and later verbally abused police officers while drunk outside Jurong Point mall.

Holland, a 37-year-old Briton, was fined S$4,000 on Thursday (Oct 14).

He pleaded guilty to one charge each of harassment and flouting Covid-19 laws by failing to wear a face mask. Two other charges of harassment and causing annoyance while drunk in a public place were taken into consideration for sentencing.

His lawyer Sankar Saminathan told the court that Holland was recently hired as a teacher in an international school here, and intends to marry his girlfriend and make Singapore his home.

Mr Saminathan also said that Holland’s actions on June 26 last year followed a dispute between his group, who were out drinking, and another group.

The court heard that a man called the police at about 1.30am to say: “Two drunk Caucasians are causing trouble here.”

Five police officers turned up at Jurong Point in response to the call and noticed security officers speaking to the two men, one of whom was Holland, outside an Old Chang Kee snack shop.

When two of the policemen approached Holland and showed him their Singapore Police Force authority cards, he shouted that he would kick them if they did not stay away from him.

The officers responded that they were there to help, but Holland continued to react in a hostile manner.

He also said that he would “take them down” if they touched him.

Holland then used vulgar language to insult one of the policemen who had asked for his identification card for screening purposes.

The officer told Holland to leave but he ignored this.

When he turned to look away, the officers pinned him to the ground and handcuffed him while he continued shouting vulgarities. They also asked where his face mask was and he said that he did not know.

Mr Saminathan, his defence counsel, said in mitigation that Holland had no recollection of what happened due to his drunken state.

“He is very remorseful and sorry, and wants to get his life back on track,” Mr Saminathan added.

Holland could have been jailed for up to a year or fined up to S$5,000, or both, for using abusive words towards a public servant. 

For flouting Covid-19 laws by failing to wear a face mask, he could also have been fined up to S$10,000 or jailed up to six months, or both.