'Sovereign' woman arrested for assault, public nuisance, not wearing mask at Shunfu Mart

A 40-year-old Singaporean woman was arrested on Monday (May 4) night for committing various offences at Shunfu Mart the day before.

She had assaulted a member of the public, caused public nuisance, and did not wear a mask while out at the location on May 3, the police said.

In a series of video clips circulating on social media, she was seen engaging in heated arguments with several members of the public.

When a stallholder's daughter advised her to put on a mask, she allegedly hit her lower body.

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The woman claimed to be a "sovereign" in one of the clips, saying: "It means I have nothing to do with the police, it means I have no contract with the police. They have no say over me."

This is not the first time that she has refused to comply with safe distancing rules.

On April 14, she ignored circuit breaker measures by not wearing a mask when she shopped for groceries at a wet market, and insisted on eating her meal at Shunfu Mart.

Her defiant act of filming police officers on her mobile phone as she questioned them "You're going to arrest me? On what charge?" infuriated netizens. She was fined $300 at the time.

The woman's behaviour even caught the attention of Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam, who commented on her "sovereign" claims in a Facebook post on May 4.

"I checked up what she might have meant by referring to 'Sovereign'."

"There is a movement in the US, and adherents to that movement, [broadly speaking] reject Government, reject the police and any kind of authority."

"Well and good. But then such people should not live within society - she should not expect any of the benefits that come from this system of governance, including her security, medical care, other benefits."

"If she doesn't follow the rules and [say] ends up infecting someone - why should society accept that? Or if she falls ill herself, she will be imposing a medical burden on the rest of the society - whose rules she rejects, presumably. Very odd."

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With the subsequent offences, the woman will be charged in court on May 5.

The police added that they will not tolerate such blatant disregard of the law and wilful breaches of safe distancing measures which were introduced to help curb the spread of Covid-19 in Singapore.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.

lamminlee@asiaone.com