Jail, fine for woman who verbally abused SGH staff, argued with police in viral video

SINGAPORE - A woman who filmed herself arguing with the police after she verbally abused a hospital staff member was sentenced to five weeks and five days' jail and fined $600 on Wednesday (Oct 25).

Chinese national Han Feizi, 29, pleaded guilty to charges involving two separate incidents of using abusive language - against security officers and an employee at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) - as well as for contravening manpower laws.

One of these incidents on Oct 10 went viral, after Han had filmed herself arguing with a police officer at the hospital after verbally abusing the hospital employee.

Han, who has been in remand for 13 days, appeared in court via video-link from prison. She did not have a lawyer and attended the proceedings with the help of a Mandarin interpreter.

The long-haired, bespectacled woman appeared a shadow of her feisty self as she stood up during her mitigation plea and bowed, saying in English: "I'm sorry."

Pronouncing the sentence to a packed courtroom, Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan said the hospital worker whom Han had railed against had only been trying to help her.

Calling her behaviour loutish and belligerent, Judge Tan said: "There was simply no excuse for her behaviour, for shouting abusive words at the victim."

Prosecutors from the Attorney-General's Chambers and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) proceeded with five charges against her. These were for being a public nuisance, using abusive language against a public servant, using abusive words and using criminal force on a security officer, and for lying in her work permit application.

Han faced eight charges in total. Three other charges of using criminal force on a security officer, using abusive language against a public servant, and moonlighting as a freelance hostess without a valid work pass for about two months were taken into consideration.

Following her conviction, Han's work pass will be revoked, and she will be permanently barred from working in Singapore, MOM said on Wednesday.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jocelyn Teo told the court that at around 2.15am on Oct 10, a Grab driver dropped Han off at SGH's accident and emergency department.

Han said the Grab driver had run over her foot and that it was painful. Medical staff attended to her and let her sit on a wheelchair.

Han started screaming for the Grab driver and complained that the latter had abandoned her.

When a patient service associate explained to her the hospital's administrative registration process and advised her to don a mask, Han refused and threw the mask on the floor.

She then shouted an abusive remark, clenched her fists tightly and attempted to stand up from the wheelchair, alarming the patient service associate, said DPP Teo.

Han admitted that she was drunk at the time.

In an earlier statement, the police said they received a call at around 2.35am on Oct 10 regarding a verbally abusive patient at SGH.

When two investigation officers (IOs) interviewed Han at around 3.15am, she was uncooperative and refused to provide a statement.

The police said she allegedly used vulgarities in Mandarin against one of the IOs.

Han recorded segments of her interaction with the officers on her mobile phone which went viral on social media after she posted the 11-minute-long video on Chinese social media platform Douyin the same day.

Court documents do not reveal more details of the purported car accident and her injuries.

Han was also involved in a separate incident on Oct 3 at The Sail at Marina Bay, a condominium in Marina Boulevard.

DPP Teo said the victim, a male security supervisor at the condo, had spotted her squatting at the condo's first floor lift lobby at around 9pm that day.

Together with another female colleague, the supervisor decided to escort her to her unit on the 44th floor.

While waiting for the lift at the first floor, Han turned aggressive and pointed her finger threateningly at the victim, prompting him to say: "Don't touch me all right. Calm down."

Inside the lift, she hurled vulgarities at him and pushed him in the neck. The abuse did not stop when they reached the 44th floor, as Han continued to shout vulgarities at him and pushed him repeatedly.

Han admitted during investigations that she was also drunk at the time.

MOM prosecuting officer Khor Zhen Yan said the ministry started investigating Han after her social media post about the SGH incident, and found that she had possibly contravened manpower laws.

On Aug 11, 2023, Han had applied for a work permit and stated that she would be employed as a clerk for a firm called KDL Elements.

She was issued a work pass on Aug 12.

But the prosecutor said she never intended to work for the firm, and had only wanted to circumvent the earlier rejection of her student pass application.

Said PO Khor: "The only reason she wanted to enter Singapore was to have fun."

In her mitigation plea, read aloud by the interpreter, Han said she ought to have exercised tolerance and greater understanding of the facts as well as the law, and should not have reacted in the way she did.

She added that this was her first time living overseas, and she was unfamiliar with Singapore's laws.

But prosecutors clarified that Han had entered Singapore on at least four occasions since 2019, to which she replied it was only for short holidays.

After hearing the sentence, Han added: "I'm sorry for causing inconvenience to everyone. I will take this opportunity as a lesson learnt (and) I will not reoffend in future."

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

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