55-year-old Phoon Chiu Yoke, more famously known in Singapore as the badge lady, previously claimed trial after she was accused of not wearing a mask on 6 March along Orchard Road, contesting 4 charges against her.
She was in court earlier today where she objected to CCTV footage being admitted into evidence, saying that her image might have been superimposed into the video.
Today was the 2nd day of the trial and an ancillary hearing to determine whether footage of Phoon walking along Orchard without a mask had been tampered with, with Phoon testifying that it could have been edited.
Phoon said that the video doesn’t come with a watermark, and she can’t be sure that her image wasn’t superimposed onto the CCTV footage, claiming that it isn’t that difficult with today’s technology.
She added that “it could have been me, it could have been somebody who looked like me.
The CCTV footage was of her walking around Mandarin Gallery in Orchard Road from 3.02pm to 3.04pm on 6 March 2022 without a mask on, and the other one was a similar maskless video of her walking past a Victoria’s Secret outlet from 3.35pm to 3.37pm.
The CCTV footage was then played for her from a different angle, with Deputy Public Prosecutor Heershan Kaur saying “now that we have a clearer view, it is clearly you in your yellow loafers and sunglasses right?”
To which Phoon said that she wasn’t sure, adding that the pair of loafers were from Ecco or Clarks and she is sure they do not only sell to one person or make only one size.
DPP Kaur then asked Phoon if the black sunglasses in the video belonged to her, to which she said “every pair of sunglasses is black.”
DPP later said that Phoon was deliberately being a difficult and evasive witness following several exchanges where Phoon didn’t answer the prosecution’s question directly, to which Phoon disagreed.
A security team leader at Hilton Singapore Orchard who was in charge of the security at the Mandarin Gallary testified that the CCTV cameras were working fine and that he didn’t alter, amend or edit the footage.
The video was ultimately admitted into evidence, as the trial against Phoon continues.
