 a warrant of arrest was issued to 29 year old man as he had failed to appear in court for a hearing){kind=link}
On Wednesday (23 Feb) a warrant of arrest was issued to a 29 year old man as he had failed to appear in court for a hearing for his offence of punching a SMRT staff back in 2018.
He had said that he was sick but could not produce a Medical Certificate (MC), resulting in his bail being revoked and the arrest warrant issued.
He had earlier last year admitted his guilt to voluntarily causing hurt and improper usage of the Singapore passport.
Incident at Dhoby Ghaut MRT
On 17 Sep 2018, He was spotted by an SMRT station manager at Dhoby Ghaut MRT tailgating another passenger into the station.
His Ez-link card had only 2 cents stored inside at that time and the manager followed to ask him to show his ez-link card for verification that he had paid the fees.
He refused to comply and the manager had asked him to follow him to the passenger service centre which he refused again.
The manager then grabbed his backpack to stop him from escaping while they engaged in a scuffle.
He was then taken to the passenger service centre with the help of transit security officers and this was where he threw a punch to the back of the manager’s head.
As a result, the manager was given a day of medical leave when he visited the doctor who found that his ear was reddish-pink and his elbowed had some superficial scratches.
Attempted to leave Singapore with brother’s passport
On 20 Sept 2019, He took his brother’s passport from a locker at his home which was left unlocked.
He booked a private hire car to City Square Mall in JB using his brother’s account.
It was unknown why he decided to go to Malaysia at that time.
He was met by a Malaysian driver who fetched him to clear the customs at Woodlands Checkpoint.
He gave his brother’s passport to the ICA officer when asked for it which prompted the officer to ask if he had lost weight from National Service given that the face on the passport did not match his face.
He nodded in agreement with the officer’s question.
He also used his brother’s identity card when asked for other forms of identification.
The officer then asked him to put his fingerprints on a scanner which detected again the difference between his fingerprints and his brother’s.
He was then led to an office for further verifications on his identity.
Changed brother’s contact to ‘daddy’
He changed the contact of his brother on his phone to ‘daddy’, and messaged him over Whatsapp to answer questions which ICA officers have asked about his travel history.
He changed the name of his brother’s contact to ‘daddy’ in order to avoid suspicions as he realised that it would be dumb for him to be speaking to his brother as he was pretending to be him.
He was subsequently asked to scan his fingerprints on ICA’s mobile automated verification and identification system where his true identity was revealed.
Penalties
If he is convicted of improper usage of a Singapore Passport, he could receive up to 10 years jail and/or fined up to $10,000.
If he is convicted of voluntarily causing hurt, he could receive up to two years jail and/or fined up to $5,000.
Image source: Google Maps