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SINGAPORE – The man who spent two more days behind bars due to a clerical error in state courts said he had tried to distract himself from thinking about the overtime he was spending in jail.
During those two nights, he had wandered around and around the jail cell he shared with three other people, Teo Seng Tiong told The Straits Times on Saturday (September 19).
On some nights of the fish farmer’s seven-week prison sentence, he said the incessant hum of the fan and the sound his cellmates made while showering kept him awake.
But between August 22 and 23, it was the fact that he should have been a free man that weighed heavily on the 59-year-old man’s mind.
“During the day, I could distract myself by talking to other people, but at night when no one else was awake, I kept thinking about it,” Teo said in Mandarin.
“You keep telling yourself not to do it and you try to sleep, but you can’t stop thinking about it … It was like time didn’t move.”
Earlier this month, it was revealed that due to a clerical error by a state court official, Teo ended up in jail for two more days.
He declined to say more, pointing to the confidentiality agreement he had signed earlier this week for an undisclosed sum in compensation from the government.
Married with two adult children, Teo was sentenced on January 14 to seven weeks in jail and a $ 500 fine for causing harm by reckless act and for failing to file a police report the day after an accident.
The incident occurred just before noon on December 22, 2018, in Pasir Ris.
In a widely circulated video, bicyclist Eric Cheung Hoyu is seen striking the left side mirror of Mr. Teo’s truck before the truck suddenly veers to the left toward Mr. Cheung.
The British citizen, who turns 36 this year, can be seen falling from his bicycle onto the edge of the grass on the side of the road.
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At the end of the court hearing, Mr. Cheung was fined $ 2,800 for mischief and for failing to ride a bicycle in an orderly and careful manner as required by traffic regulations.
In addition to the jail term and fine, Mr. Teo was also disqualified from holding or obtaining all kinds of driver’s licenses for two years.
They told him that if he couldn’t pay the fine, he would have to serve another three days behind bars.
After unsuccessfully appealing to Superior Court, Teo paid the fine and began serving his jail term on July 20.
While the Superior Court notified the state courts that the fine had been paid, the state court official handling the case did not update the state court case management system to reflect this, the state courts said on 2 May. September.
The error was discovered only when Mr. Teo’s attorney, Mr. Tan Hee Joek, sent a receipt for the fine payment to the Singapore Prison Service.
Mr. Teo was released on the morning of August 24, two days after he should have been released, with a third of the three days in jail in lieu of the fine issued.
It was previously reported that Mr. Teo was convicted of willfully causing harm in 1988 and 2012, and for scuffle in 1999. He was also convicted of an obscene act in 1993 and insulting a woman’s modesty in 2007.
Mr. Teo had also been convicted of multiple traffic offenses between 1999 and 2015 involving careless driving, speeding, and running a red light.
But he insists his incarceration experience taught him “profound” lessons and is a “blessing in disguise.”
“It was an enriching experience that you can’t go outside. (It gave me) the opportunity to learn discipline, as well as how to control (my) temper and let things happen,” he said.
Now he just wants to put the matter behind him, although others have questioned him about the amount of compensation.
“I’m nervous because there is a lot of pressure and I always have to be careful what I say (because of the confidentiality agreement).
“Everyone, whether I know them or not, has been asking me how much I got.”
This article was first published in The times of the strait. Permission is required for reproduction.
