29-year-old Han Feizi, a Chinese national who recently gained notoriety for filming and uploading videos of her confrontations with a police officer at the Singapore General Hospital, has been hit with two additional charges under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act today, according to a report by Channel NewsAsia
Allegedly worked as a hostess
Han, aged 29, had been in remand for nearly two weeks before receiving the new charges. These charges, handed down on Tuesday, October 24, accused her of making false declarations in her application for a work permit.
In her application, she claimed that she would work as a clerk for a company named KDL Elements. However, investigations revealed that she had no intention of fulfilling this role.
Instead, from August 1, 2023, to October 11, 2023, she was found to have been working as a freelance hostess at various locations, as indicated in the charge sheets.
These fresh charges come in addition to the six charges Han was originally slapped with on October 13. These earlier charges included public nuisance, assaulting a security officer, using insulting language against public service workers or servants, and harassment.
No friends and family in Singapore
During her court appearance, Han, who does not have legal representation, appeared composed and wore large black-rimmed glasses. She conversed with a Mandarin interpreter during the proceedings. Han expressed her intention to plead guilty to both the old and new charges.
When Han inquired about posting bail, the judge informed her that bail had already been offered during the previous charging. Han revealed that her fingerprints had been taken for bail purposes, but she was later denied bail, without understanding why.
The judge explained to Han that her proposed bailor might have been rejected by the bail center, to which Han acknowledged her understanding.
However, when asked if she wanted to make another phone call to arrange bail, Han requested to make an overseas call to her hometown. She cited concerns about credit card debts and an impending mortgage payment.
The judge clarified that only local calls could be made but suggested conveying the message to someone who could make the necessary arrangements.
Han then disclosed that she had been in Singapore for over a month but had no friends or family in the country. When questioned about the potential bailor she had previously contacted, she could not remember the person’s number.
Han Feizi is expected to plead guilty to the charges on Wednesday as the legal proceedings continue.
Recap on SGH incident
The incident gained widespread attention after a video was posted on the Chinese social media platform Douyin. This video depicted the police interviewing the woman, who had been accused of being insulting the hospital workers.
The Singaporean police received a call for help at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) at around 2:35 am.
In the video, the woman claimed to have waited for three hours in the hospital’s emergency department without receiving any medical attention after allegedly being hit by a car.
She further alleged that a nurse told her she would not be treated because she was not a Singaporean citizen. These claims were later disputed by SGH.
Insights from SGH
Speaking to The Straits Times, the head and senior consultant for SGH’s department of emergency medicine, Associate Professor Kenneth Tan, said that the woman was discharged after 2 hours, after she had been thoroughly reviewed by the medical staff.
Tan added that everyone who presents themselves at SGH’s emergency department will receive the medical care that they require.
The situation also escalated when the woman refused to wear a face mask and according to Professor Tan, during the triage process at the emergency department, a staff member offered her a mask, which she refused to put on, despite being reminded about the government’s guidelines on wearing masks in Singapore’s hospitals.
As the situation got increasingly heated, the woman continued to behave in an aggressive manner and the medical staff had to call the police for help, as her behaviour was affecting the hospital operations.
Douyin Videos
The woman posted two videos on Douyin, both exceeding 11 minutes. She was also seen demanding a plainclothes police officer to identify herself and attempting to grab her police lanyard.
According to ST, the Singapore Police Force said that the two plainclothes officers, who were investigations officers, had introduced themselves in front of uniformed officers before speaking to the woman.
The female police officer was seen in the video repeatedly asking the woman if she had used vulgarities on the nurse, but the woman refused to answer.
The woman refused to cooperate and used vulgarities on one of the police officers, and filmed her interview with one of the female investigation officers and sharing them on her Douyin account.
The videos, which have since been reposted on several social media platforms, have been viewed more than a million times in total.
You can watch the videos here, here and here.
Not her first brush with the law
The woman had a prior altercation with the law on October 3, when she was reported for an incident at a condominium in Marina Boulevard.
The police were called after she allegedly pushed a security officer and insulted him while being drunk at the time.
She is also said to have possibly breached the conditions of her work permit in Singapore, and the Ministry of Manpower has been alerted to the situation.
The police added that they will take firm action against offenders who behave against their public servants and workers who are carrying out their public duties, in accordance with the law.