Man charged with breaching stay-home notice to go to ICA and hospital
Google Street View of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority building in Singapore.
SINGAPORE: A man was charged on Thursday (Apr 30) with breaching his stay-home notice to travel twice to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) building, and once to a hospital.
Ong Chong Kiat, 50, returned to Singapore from Indonesia on Mar 24 and was given an order to stay at home between Mar 24 and Apr 7, ICA said in a statement.
He is accused of leaving his flat in Hougang Avenue 8 between 10am and 2pm on Mar 27. He purportedly took public transport to the ICA building in 10 Kallang Road, intending to make an appeal to be granted permission to depart Singapore before completing his stay-home notice.
While there, ICA officers advised him to return home immediately, and he did so after leaving his home for a few hours.
Three days later, Ong left his home again. He is accused of using public transport to go to Tan Tock Seng Hospital to obtain medical test reports, before returning to the ICA building to appeal again for permission to leave Singapore.
He stayed outside of his home without reasonable excuse between 10am and noon that day, charge sheets state.
Ong's case was adjourned to May 15 for a pre-trial conference.
ICA said it investigated Ong's "wilful breach of stay-home notice requirements" and that it will not hesitate to take firm enforcement action against anyone who breaches such requirements.
A person under a stay-home notice must remain home at all times until the period specified comes to an end.
For each count of breaching his stay-home notice, Ong could be jailed for up to six months, fined a maximum S$10,000, or both, if convicted.
He is the latest in a slew of people in court for coronavirus-related offences.
So far, one man has been sentenced to six weeks' jail for exposing others to the risk of infection by breaching his stay-home notice to eat bak kut teh and run errands.
Another man was fined S$1,500 on Wednesday for breaching his quarantine order half an hour before it ended as he misread the end timing.
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