Jail for man who paid doctor to receive fake Covid-19 vaccination so that he could travel to Australia

SINGAPORE — A man who wanted to travel to Australia without taking a Covid-19 vaccination conspired with a doctor and the clinic's logistics supervisor to administer saline instead of a Sinopharm vaccine for himself and his wife, on two separate occasions. 

Australian national Newton David Christopher, 44, who pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiring to cheat the Health Promotion Board (HPB) into reflecting in the national immunisation registry that he was fully vaccinated against Covid-19 when he was not, was sentenced to 16 weeks’ jail.

Another similar charge was taken into consideration in sentencing.

The co-accused are Jipson Quah, 34, who was a registered doctor at the time of the offence but has been suspended from his practice, and 41-year-old Thomas Chua Cheng Soon, Quah’s logistics supervisor at four clinics.

Their cases are pending before the courts.

WHAT HAPPENED

In December 2021, Christopher joined a Telegram chat of Healing the Divide — a group known for its stance against Covid-19 vaccinations.

He obtained Chua’s contact number from the group chat.

On Dec 26 that year, Christopher invited Chua to his place and said that he had received a job offer in Australia but would face significant difficulty entering the country since he was not vaccinated against the coronavirus. 

He asked Chua whether he could be certified as having been vaccinated without getting the actual vaccine and whether his wife, Wonglangka Apinya, 32, could be certified for exemption from vaccination, even though she did not fulfil the exemption criteria set out by the Ministry of Health.

Chua said that he would speak with Quah about this, and quoted a price of S$6,000 to administer the fake vaccines, to which Christopher agreed and paid a deposit of S$2,000 two days later, the court heard. 

Quah then told Chua to arrange for Christopher, his wife and his daughter to receive the fake vaccinations at one of the Mayfair Medical Clinics on Dec 29, 2021. Court documents did not specify the location of the clinic outlet.

Chua drove the family to the appointment and while in the car, Christopher lied to his wife that he had arranged for her to receive the Sinopharm vaccine.

The court heard that at the clinic, Quah told Christopher that he would administer the Sinopharm vaccine to him and his wife, even though both men knew it was not the real vaccine.

Quah then injected both of them with saline. Court documents did not indicate whether his daughter received the fake vaccination or not.

Afterwards, Chua drove the family home and allegedly received S$2,000 from Christopher for the first set of saline injections.

Quah purportedly documented the fake first vaccination in his clinic’s medical records system, which was then sent to the National Immunisation Registry maintained by HPB.

To be certified as fully vaccinated, Christopher asked Chua to schedule another appointment for Jan 15, 2022 for their second "dose”, which they then received at Mayfair Medical Clinic in Yishun.

Chua allegedly received the remaining S$2,000 from Christopher on the drive home, with Chua and Quah said to have split the total payment of S$6,000 between themselves. 

DETERRENCE SENTENCE NEEDED: JUDGE

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Etsuko Lim and Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jiang Ke-Yue on Thursday sought 16 to 18 weeks’ jail for Christopher, citing the need for deterrence.

“By conspiring to cheat, what Christopher did was to subvert a national public health measure, which takes the offence beyond the realm of cheating entirely,” DPP Lim said. 

Defence counsel Paul Loy sought a fine, or alternatively, a sentence of four to eight weeks’ jail for his client.

In his mitigation plea, he said that his client’s motivation for faking the vaccinations was primarily due to his wife’s medical condition, hence he was not the primary mover of the conspiracy.

Instead, the primary movers were Chua and Quah, who sought to make profit from the fake vaccinations.

The lawyer also said that if general deterrence was the key sentencing principle, all of the patients who arranged for saline injections from Quah should also be charged, not just his client.

To this, DPP Lim said that he was charged first since he had applied to leave for Australia and that the prosecution is still looking into the matter.

DPP Lim also did not accept that Christopher was not a primary mover since he approached Chua intending to fake the vaccinations and was therefore a key player.

District Judge Soh Tze Bian in his oral judgement said that consideration of public interest called for a deterrent sentence since vaccination was a critical measure in tackling Covid-19 infections.

In addition, Christopher had caused public disquiet when his offence came to light, as it was an “affront to the basic principle of exercising social responsibility”. 

Another aggravating factor was that the offence was committed against a public institution.

“Offences against public institutions must be deplored by way of a deterrent sentence, so as to safeguard the integrity of and public confidence in our public institutions,” said the judge. 

Anyone convicted of cheating can be jailed up to three years, or fined or both, while those convicted of a criminal conspiracy can be punished in the same manner as if abetting the offence.