Man pleads guilty to breaching stay-home notice to satisfy bak kut teh craving
Alan Tham Xiang Sheng, 34, did not wear a face mask and was out for more than four hours as he headed to at least six public places between 3.40pm and 10pm on March 23, 2020.
SINGAPORE — A man whose Facebook post went viral when he documented having bak kut teh (pork rib soup) in public after returning from abroad, when he should have been serving a 14-day stay-home notice, admitted to breaching the Infectious Diseases Act on Thursday (April 16).
Alan Tham Xiang Sheng, 34, pleaded guilty to one charge under Section 21A(1) of the Act. The provision states that a person who knows or has reason to suspect that he is a carrier or contact of an infectious disease shall not expose others to the risk of infection.
Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun adjourned sentencing to April 23.
Court documents noted that Tham headed to the Kopitiam food centre at Changi Airport Terminal 3 and a money changer at Peninsula Plaza to change his leftover Myanmar currency back to Singapore currency after landing in Singapore on March 23.
He then went home to take a shower before heading out for a bak kut teh dinner at the Foodfare hawker centre at Kampung Admiralty.
His lawyer, Mr Josephus Tan, argued that it was “quite unreasonable” to expect Tham to go home immediately upon clearing customs at Changi Airport on the day he returned from his trip, as the stay-home notice is not a “go home notice”.
In an interview with The Straits Times after screenshots of his Facebook post went viral last month, Tham said that an airport official had given him the impression that the stay-home notice started only on March 24, the day after his return. He added that he had worn a mask and was out for less than an hour for his dinner.
OUT FOR OVER FOUR HOURS WITHOUT FACE MASK
The court heard that Mr Al Hafiz Abdol Raman, a 29-year-old Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer who had served Tham the stay-home notice, had at no point in time made any representation to him that the notice started only on March 24.
The court also heard that Tham did not wear a face mask and was out for more than four hours as he headed to at least six public places — two food courts, the money changer, two bus stops and an NTUC FairPrice supermarket — between 3.40pm and 10pm on March 23.
He went home for a shower in between, from 6.35pm to 8.27pm, before heading out again to satisfy a craving for bak kut teh.
Tham admitted that he was “quickly chastised” by his Facebook friends after he posted photos of his bak kut teh dinner on social media along with the caption “Come back to Singapore must eat our local food~”.
His photos drew irate comments from internet users, such as:
“very upset to see someone I know do such a thing! Where do I report someone who breached SHN (stay-home notice) offence”
“why u never quarantine for 14 days ah. Don’t selfish give to people”
“Dude dude dude DUDE. Not a responsible move”
“please stay at home and be socially responsible. It doesn’t matter what day the SHN starts, the virus waits for no one”
But even after seeing his friends’ criticisms, he lingered at Kampung Admiralty hawker centre for about 45 minutes to respond to the comments and finish his meal. Afterwards, he headed to an NTUC FairPrice supermarket to buy groceries.
Throughout, Tham was with his 36-year-old girlfriend, who had picked him up at the airport.
‘UNREASONABLE’ TO EXPECT RECIPIENT OF NOTICE TO GO HOME IMMEDIATELY: LAWYER
Calling Tham’s behaviour “blatantly irresponsible”, the prosecution sought a jail sentence of at least 10 to 12 weeks.
But Tham’s lawyer said this was a “heavy-handed suggestion” aimed at sending a deterrent message that there are serious repercussions for breaching the stay-home notice.
“The case does not warrant using a sledgehammer to kill a fly,” said Mr Tan, urging the judge to consider a fine of up to S$10,000 instead. “Witch-hunting during this time might be necessary, but Alan (Tham) is not the witch.”
Mr Tan stressed that there were no protocols on March 23 to isolate those who had received a stay-home notice at the immigration desk and escort them directly to their homes in a controlled setting.
“If going home immediately to isolate oneself was such a critical aspect of the stay-home notice, it is astoundingly dumbfounding that the stay-home notice was completely silent about how the recipient should even go about making his own way home or if there were any movement restrictions before reaching home,” he said.
The lawyer added: “So what now if he first needs to go to the washroom urgently at Terminal 3? What if he had lost his wallet and handphone, and had no way of contacting anyone or making his own way home? The stay-home notice does not account for all of these.”
Mr Tan also asked why Tham was not tested for Covid-19 upon his arrival, why the Terminal 3 food court was not cordoned off to overseas returnees, and why staff members at the airport terminal did not prevent people from going in to pick up returning travellers.
CONSIDERING TRANSMISSION RISK
There also appears to be a “clear disparity” between different types of stay-home notices, said Mr Tan, since travellers returning from high-risk countries such as the United Kingdom or the United States were escorted from the airport to a designated hotel to serve their notice.
Mr Tan contended that this could only mean that the authorities saw Tham’s risk of transmission as “low”. Offenders displaying a low risk of transmission and low culpability are liable only to a fine of up to S$10,000 under the prosecution’s proposed sentencing framework, he argued.
Deputy Public Prosecutors (DPPs) Kenneth Chin and Norman Yew, however, said that Tham’s risk of transmission was moderate and his culpability was high. Their sentencing framework proposed that offenders with a high transmission risk or high culpability are to be jailed for between two and four months.
They considered that Tham did not take precautions to reduce the risk of infection to others, such as wearing a face mask, and that he travelled by public transport while outside.
He took two private-hire car rides to stop by Peninsula Plaza before heading home from the airport and a public bus to get to Kampung Admiralty, which is about 800m from his Woodlands home.
The DPPs also considered that he had alarmed others by publicising his bak kut teh meal and blatantly disregarding his friends’ admonitions by going to buy groceries.
Tham remains out on S$5,000 bail.
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