Woman arrested for assaulting police officer and refusing to wear a mask in Sun Plaza mall

SINGAPORE - The police have arrested a 40-year-old woman for refusing to wear her mask properly and assaulting a police officer who had approached her at Sun Plaza mall on Thursday (May 7).

The Singaporean woman allegedly also insulted mall staff and hurled vulgarities at a security officer who was trying to get her to put on her mask correctly, said the police in a release to the media on Friday.

A widely shared video of the incident also showed the woman taunting a mall employee, asking him to remove his face mask to speak to her.

Mall staff called the police for help at about 2.10pm, but when law enforcement arrived and requested to see her identity, she allegedly started peeling off the address sticker on her identity card.

"When one of the police officers tried to stop her, the woman assaulted the police officer and remained uncooperative," said the police, noting that the woman had previously been fined $300 on April 29 for not wearing a mask at the same mall in Sembawang.

"Everyone should take the circuit breaker measures seriously. The police will not tolerate such blatant disregard of the law and wilful breaches of safe distancing measures."

Investigations are ongoing.

Those convicted of voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from carrying out public duties will be liable to a maximum jail term of seven years and a fine or caning, provided that in exceptional circumstances imprisonment need not be imposed.

If found guilty of harassment by using insulting or abusive language, perpetrators face up to six months' jail, fined up to $5,000, or both.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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