Drink stall owner fined for cursing at officer who confronted him over mask sales
SINGAPORE — A drinks stall owner who hurled vulgarities at enforcement officers after he was seen selling masks outside his stall was fined $3,000 on Wednesday (10 June).
Eddie Neo Zhong Jie, 35, was seen at a coffeeshop at Yuhua Village with 43 boxes of surgical masks on a trolley next to him when the officers from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) approached him.
Things turned ugly when Neo denied selling masks and began verbally abusing the officers.
The Singaporean pleaded guilty to one count of using abusive words on a public servant who was on duty.
On 13 April, at about 11.55am, the police received a call complaining that a Chinese man was selling masks inside the coffeeshop located at Jurong East.
At the same time, the male and female SFA officers, aged 36 and 33 respectively, received information about illegal hawking activities at the coffeeshop and arrived at about 11.50am. The two had been appointed as enforcement officers under the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 with effect from 8 April.
The two officers saw Neo sitting with 43 boxes, each containing 50 pieces of mask, on a trolley beside him. Some boxes were opened with the masks on display.
The officers, both wearing lanyards with passes, approached Neo and identified themselves. They asked Neo if he was selling the masks. Neo denied doing so and claimed he was only “loading and unloading” the boxes.
As the masks appeared to be on display, the officers questioned him further, but Neo insisted he was not doing anything wrong and claimed the officers had not seen him selling masks.
The officers then asked for Neo’s particulars but he refused to comply. One of the male officers then raised his voice while asking for Neo’s particulars. Neo then became hostile and threw vulgarities at the officer.
The officers decided to call the police but Neo was still cursing even after the police arrived.
Neo, who had no lawyer, pleaded for a lighter fine in mitigation and asked for an instalment plan to pay the fine. He said he had not been working since the COVID-19 pandemic came about for four months.
Said Neo through a Mandarin interpreter, “On that day, the officer also hurled abuse at me, I just could not get hold of CCTV footage cause it is auto-deleted so officers can abuse us but we cannot abuse them?”
Deputy Public Prosecutor Stephanie Koh replied that there was no evidence that the enforcement officer had used vulgarities and that no CCTV footage could be produced.
Neo then said he chose to plead guilty as there was no such evidence.
For using abusive words on a public servant, an offence under the Protection from Harassment Act, Neo could have been jailed up to a year, or fined up to $5,000 or both.
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