Caught between being 'legally wrong and morally incorrect': Terence Cao fined $3,500 for 13-person party during Phase 2

Local veteran actor Terence Cao was fined $3,500 today (May 25) after pleading guilty to one charge of permitting 12 guests who were not members of his household to enter his home during Phase 2 in October last year.

Phase 2 regulations stated households could receive up to five guests at any one time.

The court heard how the guest list swelled from the initial five.

Terence, 53, had invited only five people — local actors Shane Pow, Jeffrey Xu, Jeremy Chan, and Benjamin Heng, and former magazine editor Lance Lim — for a party celebrating his birthday as well as Shane and Jeffrey's.

However, Lim — who was fined $3,000 in a hearing on May 18 — separately invited actress Julie Tan, radio DJ Sonia Chew, and two marketing managers. One of the latter in turn invited actress Dawn Yeo.

Shane, who will be in court on June 3 to face a separate drink driving charge, invited part-time model and actress Valnice Yek to the party, unaware of the additional people at the party.

Another sales manager friend also turned up uninvited at Terence's home.

Terence's lawyer S S Dhillon said in his mitigation plea that Terence was caught between being "legally wrong and morally incorrect", saying it would be morally "wrong" for Terence not to let his friends into his home for the party.

"His heart couldn't turn them away," the lawyer said.

In reply, Deputy Public Prosecutor Norman Yew said: "The choice presented before the accused when the guests came is to decide, do I let them in? Or do I turn them away?"

"There are laws to abide by, laws to save lives. That's the choice he has to make. Unfortunately, he chose to break the Covid-19 laws, not by accident… At any moment, he could've told his guests, 'Oh no, please leave'. That didn't happen," he added.

He asked the court to sentence Terence to a fine of $3,500 to reflect his increased culpability as the host of the party.

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During the proceedings, it was also revealed that Terence doesn't receive a salary from Mediacorp, even though he has a contract with them, and that he started his own F&B business Sibay Shiok to support himself and his 12-year-old daughter who lives in China with her mother.

First-time offenders who breach laws under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act can be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $10,000. Repeat offenders can be jailed for up to a year and fined up to $20,000.

The remaining 11 guests in the party were fined $300 in lieu of being prosecuted, due to their lower "level of culpability".

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com