COVID-19: Man charged with leaving home while on medical leave to go to IKEA and Singapore Expo

SINGAPORE: A 22-year-old man was charged in court on Friday (May 7) with repeatedly ignoring conditions in his medical certificate to stay at home and instead headed out to places like IKEA and the Singapore Expo.

Fathullah Abdul Rahman, 22, was given three charges under the Infectious Diseases Act for leaving his home while under the conditions of a medical certificate.

According to charge sheets, he was given a medical certificate indicating that he had acute respiratory infection symptoms. 

He was required to stay at home between Sep 2 and Sep 4 last year, according to the certificate issued by a doctor at the Civil Defence Academy Complex Medical Centre.

Fathullah is accused of leaving his home and travelling via MRT and a bus to IKEA in Tampines. The next morning, he allegedly left his house and met a woman at Bedok MRT before going to the Kallang area with her.

On Sep 17, 2020, the same doctor issued Fathullah another medical certificate for the same symptoms. Although he was required to stay home for three days until Sep 19, 2020, Fathullah allegedly left home to go to the Singapore Expo.

He will return to court in June and is set to plead guilty.

For each charge, he can be jailed for up to six months, fined up to S$10,000, or both, if he is a first-time offender.

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