Ex-Mediacorp Actor Shane Pow Jailed for 5 Weeks for his Drink-Driving Offence

Last October, a group of celebrities gathered at veteran actor Terence Cao Guohui’s home for a birthday celebration.

Image: Instagram (Jeffrey Xu)

Normally, this wouldn’t make frontpage news, but this was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when limits on group sizes for gatherings and visitors were in place.

As a result, those involved received fines of various amounts.

It now turns out that one of them had broken another law just a month earlier.

Ex-Mediacorp Actor Shane Pow Caught Drink-Driving

On 17 Sept, former Mediacorp actor Shane Pow met up with two friends at an Amoy Street Korean restaurant.

He consumed about two glasses of beer between 7pm and 8.30pm, and left the establishment two hours later.

Despite having consumed alcohol, Pow drove his friends home in a van, and then drove to Bugis to pick up another friend.

On his way home, Pow was stopped along Java Road towards Nicoll Highway at around 11.20pm by a Traffic Police (TP) officer for a routine check.

Reeking of alcohol, the 30-year-old failed a breathalyser test and was then escorted to the TP headquarters in Ubi Avenue 3.

There, tests showed he had 49 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The prescribed limit is 35mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

Jailed 5 Weeks & Fined $6,000

Some first-time offenders may get away with a fine, but this was Pow’s second conviction for the offence. 

This was why he was sentenced to 5 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to the drink-driving charge.

He was also fined $6,000 and disqualified from driving for five years from his date of release.

Back in 2014, Pow was fined $2,300 and disqualified from driving for a year after he was convicted of offences including drink driving.

Being a repeat offender, Pow could have been sentenced to two years in prison, and fined $20,000.

First-time offenders can be jailed for up to a year and fined $10,000.

In court, Pow’s defence lawyer said: “The accused sincerely regrets what he had done and seeks an opportunity to make amends.”

Terminated From Mediacorp Due to Drink-driving Charge

The drink-driving charge, as well his breach of safe distancing measures last year, drove Mediacorp to part ways with Pow earlier this year.

What’s more, it seems that the 30-year-old kept Mediacorp in the dark about his charges:

“Shane did not inform the artiste management team about this matter that took place in September 2020. He was also recently found to have breached Covid-19 safe management measures in an incident that took place in October 2020. He was fined for this offence and internal disciplinary action was also taken,”, Mediacorp said.

“Taking into account all the above issues, Mediacorp has decided to part ways with Shane.”

“We do not condone any behaviour that runs afoul of the law. We constantly remind our artistes that their fans and members of the public look to them as role models, and they are expected to behave as such,” it added.

A month later, Pow apologised to his friends, fans, and family for his errant behaviour, and expressed his regret.

He also thanked Mediacorp and his managers for all the help given over the years.

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Featured Image: Instagram (shanepowxp)