Man who threatened to throw urine at State Courts worker given mandatory treatment order
He threatened to throw a bag of urine at a worker at the State Courts over his unhappiness about a complaint that he was pursuing against a doctor.
Sim Swee Guan, 57, also spewed vulgarities in Hokkien at another worker at the Crime Registry Department (CRD) when he turned up in the State Courts on 8 March last year. He even called the District Judge who was handling his complaint a “f**king judge”.
On Wednesday (27 September), Sim was ordered to undergo a Mandatory Treatment Order for a year for harassing the CRD staff and a worker from Singapore General Hospital (SGH) by using abusive language, and wrongfully restraining a CRD worker. A MTO is an order given to offenders to attend mental health treatment in lieu of jail time.
Sim pleaded guilty to five charges of abusing a public service worker, two charges of using abusive language against a public servant, and one charge of wrongful restraint. Two other harassment charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court heard that the first incident happened over the phone on 29 October 2015. Sim, an orthopaedic patient who has been seeking treatment at SGH since 2010, had requested for a medical report from the hospital.
He was unsatisfied with the diagnosis provided in the medical report and felt that it was fake. He repeatedly called the Service Quality Department of SGH to file a complaint. A worker at SGH, who cannot be named due to a gag order, had attended to his queries.
When Sim spoke to the worker about the report, he became verbally abusive whenever he failed to get the clarifications or additional reports that he wanted. Sim spewed profanities in Hokkien at the worker over five phone calls in five months. The worker lodged a police report in March 2016.
Sim subsequently filed a Magistrate’s Complaint at the CRD against the SGH doctor who gave the diagnosis in his medical report. His matter was eventually heard but Sim was told to gather more evidence before returning to the State Courts.
When Sim returned on 8 March last year, he brought with him a plastic bag filled with urine, with the intention of frightening the workers at the CRD. After Sim threatened to throw the bag of urine and spewed vulgarities at the workers, security personnel approached Sim and escorted him out of the State Courts. One of the CRD workers then lodged a police report.
Sim would return a few more times after the incident. On each occasion, the same worker that Sim had previously threatened would be alarmed by his presence and had to excuse herself from duty.
The Magistrate’s Complaint was eventually dismissed but Sim returned to make a new application on 21 July 2016 even though he was told not to do so. His application was dismissed. Sim then proceeded to wait at an overhead link bridge outside the State Courts with the intention of confronting the CRD workers. Around 1pm on the day of incident, he spotted one of the workers walking up the steps of the bridge.
The worker asked what Sim was doing there. Sim responded by grabbing the worker’s right arm and alleged that the worker was responsible for his Magistrate’s Complaint being dismissed. He refused to let the worker go initially but later released him. Sim’s mandatory treatment order will begin on 27 September 2017.
