Joel Ang Yun Nan, 25 y.o, was jailed for two weeks and fined S$15,500 on Monday (Aug 23) over the infringement of Covid-19 regulations.
He had already been arrested for hosting two large parties over two weekends in an industrial building in Sin Ming, but decided to break the rules again by organising another large gathering several months later when new restrictions have already kicked in due to the spike in locally transmitted Covid-19 cases.
An additional two months of imprisonment will be meted out if he is unable to pay his fine.
He pleaded guilty to three charges, two for exceeding the maximum allowed group size and one for unlicensed provision of public entertainment or exemptionz
Three more charges which includes supplying alcohol without having a liquor license was taken into consideration during his sentencing.
The parties he organised
On January 8, he hosted a party involving 40 people for his birthday celebrations.
The maximum permissible size for gatherings was only 8 at the point of time where it was Phase 3 of safe reopening.
The party was allegedly planned in December last year by Ang and his accomplice, Kenneth Chua Wei Lun to be hosted at a unit in Sin Ming’s Midview City Building.
Ang and Chua rented the unit under a company “Music Production Studio” where Ang was an authorised representative and jointly made decisions such as the furnishings and also the share of the profits for liquor sales.
Chua came out with the capital for their venture while Ang was in charge of overseeing the operations.
Patrons were not charged for entry fees but for alcohol via cash or paynow.
Other illegal gatherings
Ang had also opened the unit for other parties several other times before the Jan 8 incident.
To hide from the police that he was running an entertainment venue illegally, he lied to them and said that he paid for all the alcohol and he was the host.
Their venture came to light on Jan 8 when the building’s security team told the operations manager (OM) about loud music playing and also the countless number of people entering and exiting the unit.
The OM then went up to check around midnight and found many people waiting outside the locked unit and decided to call the police.
Police officers then found 40 people ages between 17 and 32 inclusive of Chua and Ang when they searched the unit around 3.10am.
While Ang was investigated for this, he proceeded to host another party with 12 patrons the following weekend at the same place.
Second check by Police
On Jan 17, 3.30am, Police went back to check the unit again.
This time, seven men and six women between 19 and 36 were caught drinking alcohol, chatting and blasting music from speakers.
Ang was also present and was arrested but subsequently released on bail after being charged.
Four months later
Ang approached a friend soon before he was set to plead guilty in court for his previous offences to organise another “chill” gathering for his friends at Jalan Besar’s Ho Tat Song Building.
Police officers who were patrolling the area after 12am on May 17 found the group drinking and singing without face masks.
Seven bottles of liquor, seven speakers, one karaoke display and four microphones were also found.
It was P2HA that time and people were only allowed to gather in groups of up to 2.
One other attendee, Jayden Ang Jin Jie, 20 has also pleaded guilty and will be sentenced Thursday (26 August).
Penalties for breaking Covid-19 laws
Imprisonment up to six months, fined up to S$10,000 or both for first time offenders.
Repeat offenders face a jail term of up to a year, fine of up to S$20,000 or both.
For providing public entertainment without a license, a fine of up to S$20,000 is the punishment.
Image source: unsplash.com, Google maps