When you travel to a foreign country, it’s easy to fall afoul of the law, as you may not know all the laws of the land.
However, if this happens during the Covid-19 pandemic, it may be a little harder to plead ignorance.
14 Vietnamese Fined for Gathering During Phase 1
14 Vietnamese nationals were fined between $2,500 and $3,500 for breaching Covid-19 regulations, according to Yahoo! News.
They were guilty of meeting individuals outside of their residence for a social purpose back on 6 June 2020, just four days after Singapore exited its circuit breaker.
As you know, the country was in Phase 1 of its safe recovery at that point, when social gatherings and house visits from friends were still not allowed.
In spite of this, the tenant of one Bedok Reservoir Road unit, Nguyen Van Son, invited 12 of his friends over to hang out.
At the time, Nguyen Van Son shared the unit with four other Vietnamese nationals, as well as 7 other nationals who were not named in court documents.
Three of them arrived first, while the rest came later either to pass some items or collect them from the residents of the unit.
However, they had stayed in the unit beyond the exchange.
One of the offenders had gone to the flat to collect medicine for a headache, but stayed in the flat to talk to the other guests.
A resident of the unit had a toothache and allowed his cousin to pass him medicine for the pain, but once again, his cousin stayed on to chat.
Another resident, Nguyen Quang Dung, invited a friend to pass him some cash and noodles, but the guest stayed on after the exchange.
Nguyen Quang Dung came to Singapore in Sep 2019 to work, but had his work pass terminated in April last year.
Stuck without a place to stay, he put up at Nguyen Van Son’s unit while he waited for a “rescue flight” back to Vietnam.
“The wait was very long and I didn’t have enough money for food at that time, I posted on Facebook that I did not have money for food so my friend Thang came to give me noodles and money for me to sustain during the waiting time.”
Claimed They Didn’t Know the Rules
The group was caught breaking the rules after a female member of the public called the police stating that there was a “dispute” in the unit with “shouting inside”.
When the police arrived, there were a total of 22 people in the unit.
In their defence, five of the offenders said they had trouble understanding the languages spoken here and therefore didn’t fully comprehend the Covid-19 regulations in place.
A Reminder to Stay Vigilant
Two of the offenders talked about the various difficulties they were facing at the time, such as the floods in Vietnam.
Nguyen Van Son said his father back home passed away, leaving him to support both his mother and his children.
Another offender, Nguyen Huu Thang, also said his family back home was affected by the floods, and that he was unemployed.
However, as District Judge Ong Luan Tze pointed out, what may seem like a simple social visit could have serious consequences for both the offenders and the community during the pandemic.
And that’s why such actions cannot go unpunished.
With Chinese New Year just around the corner, it’d be good to keep this in mind. The last thing we’d want is to begin the Lunar New Year with a trip to the police station.
Featured Image: Google Maps
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