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SINGAPORE: A British man and his Singaporean wife were jailed on Friday (February 26) for conspiring to violate a stay-at-home notice so they could spend time together in a hotel room.
Nigel Skea, 52, was sentenced to two weeks in jail and fined S $ 1,000. Agatha Maghesh Eyamalai, 39, was sentenced to one week in jail.
Skea had conspired with Eyamalai, his then-fiancée, to meet in a hotel room where he was serving a stay-at-home notice after arriving in Singapore from London.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur said it wasn’t hard for her not to put a mitigating weight on the explanation for her default – that Skea had traveled to propose and they were both overwhelmed with emotions after not seeing each other for a long time.
“The fact is that the restrictions are necessary to prevent the spread of the pandemic,” he said. “Disruptions in relationships are an inevitable consequence. It requires patience and sacrifice (of) everyone … for the common good.”
Prosecutors had asked for four weeks in jail and a fine of Singapore $ 1,000 for Skea, which worked as a tugboat in the boat industry and had been sent abroad for his work. They sought two weeks in jail for Eyamalai.
The couple pleaded guilty earlier this month. Skea admitted to two counts of exposing others to the risk of infection by leaving his hotel room while at home and not wearing a mask. Four other charges were considered.
Eyamalai, who subsequently married Skea, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring with Skea to violate her stay-at-home notice.
Skea had arrived in Singapore from London on September 20, 2020 and received a stay-at-home notice that he was to serve in a room at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia hotel. They told him that he could not leave his room or receive visitors and he recognized these requirements.
However, he texted Eyamalai to tell him that he had arrived at the hotel and that they agreed to meet. Eyamalai booked a room at the same hotel and checked in.
At 12:52 a.m. on September 21, 2020, Skea left his hotel room without wearing a mask to explore the facilities and find a viable route to get to Eyamalai’s room.
However, he was locked in an emergency staircase and he called the hotel reception desk for help. At about 1 a.m., a hotel employee went to Skea’s room and helped him open it, noticing that he was not wearing a mask.
Skea left his room again at 2.22am after a phone call from Eyamalai. He opened the door with a piece of cardboard before taking the stairs from the 14th floor to the 27th floor, where Eyamalai was waiting.
They spent the night together in Eyamalai’s room. Skea left his room at 11:13 a.m. and tried to return to his own room, but was stopped by a security officer.
He lied that he was stuck when the door to his room accidentally closed behind him as he tried to pick up the food that was left outside. However, his lie was discovered when his door was found ajar.
The couple’s defense attorney, SS Dhillon, said to mitigate that Skea had come to Singapore primarily to marry his fiancee. They did it on November 14 of last year.
The lawyer called it “a classic case of two lovers who want to be together.”
The couple could have been fined up to S $ 10,000 and jailed for up to six months for each crime.
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