53-year-old Singaporean, Constantine paul, was fined $1,000 on 31 January for taking down Progress Singapore Party (PSP)’s campaign poster during the 2020 General Election more than two years ago.
He had pleaded guilty to one charge under the Parliamentary Elections Act, with three other charges being considered during his sentencing.
According to Channel NewsAsia, Paul will be serving 4 days imprisonment in lieu of the fine as he is unable to pay it.
Paul committed the offence on 30 June 2020; he was cycling along Bukit Batok East Avenue 5 at about 7.56pm when he saw two election campaign posters – one of the People’s Action Party (PAP) and one of the PSP.
He took down and damaged the PSP poster, before throwing it onto the ground and leaving the scene.
The next day (1 July 2020), a patrolling police officer saw the damaged poster, and investigations then revealed that there were two damaged posters in the vicinity that were near each other.
The posters went then sent for forensic examination and the authorities lifted 7 latent fingerprints from the posters that matched Paul’s fingerprints.
He was identified and traced, before being arrested later that day.
Paul’s lawyer argued in court and said that her client’s offence was not politically motivated and that he had a “spontaneous fit of anger” after seeing another person hurling vulgarities while pointing at the PAP poster.
His lawyer agreed with the prosecution’s request for a $1,000 fine but requested for a 4-day jail term in lieu as her client couldn’t pay the fine.
CNA also added that Paul has been receiving financial help from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).