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25YO Jailed for Hosting Large Gatherings, Including a 40-People Birthday Party

2021-08-25 , 9:51 am

Birthdays have been a rather sad affair during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the only surprise on the day being that no one remembered.

Only a few can visit our homes and see us blow out those candles on the cake, while the rest send us unsatisfactory messages on social media.

One 25-year-old had a simple solution to this problem, however: break the law and invite as many people as you want.

25YO Hosted Birthday Party Involving 40 People During Phase 3

Remember Phase 3? It was a time of optimism, when travel bubbles still seemed possible and a return to Phase 2 seemed impossible.

At the time, group sizes for social gatherings were restricted to eight people.

Despite this, Joel Ang Yun Nan hosted a party for his birthday involving 40 people on 8 Jan 2021.

Ang, along with another man, Kenneth Chua Wei Lun, picked a unit in Midview City in Sin Ming to host their parties during December.

Chua provided the funds while Ang was in charge of the day-to-day operations.

Ang didn’t charge his guests an entry fee, but made his money from selling alcohol; the profits were split between Chua and Ang.

Ang put the word out about his parties by sending messages to his friends, who would inform their own social circles.

Before the 8 Jan party, Ang had already held other gatherings at the Midview City unit.

Music Gave Them Away

Now, if you’re going to play loud music during an illegal party, you might as well call up the police yourself to come down and join in the fun.

Unsurprisingly, Midview City’s security team noticed that there were people entering and leaving Ang’s unit and heard music playing as well.

They informed their operations manager, who found that the unit was locked but that there were people waiting around it.

At 3:10 am, police officers searched the unit and found 40 people aged between 17 and 32 partying, including Chua and Ang.

Held Another Gathering While Being Investigated

Now, when you’re being investigated for a crime, the last thing you should do is commit that crime again.

So, naturally, that’s exactly what Ang did.

While he was being investigated for the 8 Jan party, Ang held another party at the same unit on 17 Jan.

Officers raided the unit again and found seven men and six women, aged between 19 and 36.

Just as in the previous party, guests were drinking alcohol.

Ang, who was among the partygoers, was arrested.

Jailed For Two Weeks & Fined

On Monday (23 Aug), Ang was sentenced to two week’s jail and fined S$15,500. If he’s unable to pay the fine, he’ll have to serve two more months in jail.

The 25-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges each of exceeding the maximum group size for social gatherings and providing public entertainment without a licence or exemption.

Three other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Believe it or not, after being caught a second time on 17 Jan, Ang organised another gathering, this time at Ho Tat Song in Jalan Besar, to “chill” and have a drink.

Officers patrolling the area found the group drinking and singing without face masks.