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SINGAPORE – Six people have been fined $ 3,000 each for participating in an illegal gathering on Lazarus Island amid the Covid-19 outbreak on August 8.
They were part of a 12-person gathering on the island that violated Covid-19 regulations, which prohibited social gatherings of more than five people who are not staying in the same place of residence.
Natalie Joanna Sarkies, 29; Zoe Louise Cronk, 30 years old; Jeff Richard Alexander, 32; Lowri Mair Jeffs, 31 years old; Richard Henri Lagesse, 31, and William Edwin Dunford, 32, had each pleaded guilty to a crime under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act.
Sarkies is from Singapore, while the rest are British.
Alexander, Jeffs and Dunford were represented by Mr. Shafiuddin Ong of Emerald Law, while Sarkies, Cronk and Lagesse were not represented.
According to court documents, the group of 12 took a ferry from mainland Singapore to St John’s Island at 11 a.m. on August 8.
Once there, the group walked to the beach along Lazaro Island, which is connected by an artificial causeway to San Juan Island. They then engaged in various leisure activities, before catching a ferry from St John’s Island back to mainland Singapore around 6pm.
The court heard that Sarkies posted photos of the trip on the social media platform Instagram.
The photos were subsequently posted on various media platforms, attracting public attention and causing public alarm, Deputy Prosecutor Timotheus Koh said.
Urging the court to fine each individual $ 3,000, the DPP said in its sentencing submissions that the case was comparable to a previous incident involving 12 other people gathered in Kallang. Each offender in that case was fined $ 3,000.
Mr. Ong disagreed, presenting as a mitigation that his clients should be fined $ 2,500 each. It held that a distinction should be made between the present case, which occurred during Phase 2, and the previous case, which occurred during the circuit breaker.
Another member of the group, Briton Paul Jonathon Gold, 32, was fined $ 3,000 on Oct. 14.
The cases of the remaining five: Helen Ann Sullivan, 30; Joshua Adam Roth, 31; James Riby Oram Trimming, 31 years old; Luong Thi Thu Ha, 31, and Edward John Joseph Lee-Bull, 32, are still pending.
If found guilty of the crime under the Covid-19 Act (Temporary Measures), first-time offenders can be jailed for up to six months or fined up to $ 10,000, or both.
Repeat offenders can be jailed for up to one year or fined up to $ 20,000, or both.
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