Singapore Jails Elderly Indian-Origin Man For Drunkenly Causing Annoyance

A 65-year-old Indian-origin Singaporean was on Monday jailed for five weeks after he pleaded guilty to three harassment charges and one count of causing annoyance to others while drunk in a public place.

Moorthy Nagappan was drunk when he boarded a bus near Tekka Market in the Little India precinct on March 28 this year. He was seen not wearing his mask properly, The Straits Times reported.

When the driver reminded him to wear it properly, Moorthy became unhappy and hurled vulgarities at the 33-year-old man.

State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) Raj Kishore Rai said that the police were alerted about 15 minutes later.

He was fined 1,000 Singapore dollars (USD 738) late last year after he caused annoyance to others while drunk, reoffended just months later.

In separate incidents this year, he used vulgar language to verbally abuse a police officer as well as a bus driver when he was drunk.

Moorthy was on Monday sentenced to five weeks' jail.

For each count of harassment, an offender can be jailed for up to a year and fined up to 5,000 (USD 3,692).

He was found to be drunk again near Tekka Market two months later on May 29, according to the Singapore daily report.

The police were alerted after he was seen shouting and hurling obscenities at passers-by.

Sergeant Jayson Chong Jun Kit, 25, and his colleagues arrived at the scene and Moorthy was advised to leave the premises.

The SPO told the court, "Sgt Chong and his colleagues then escorted the accused to ensure that he left the premises.

"While the accused was at the bus stop along Serangoon Road in front of Tekka Market, the accused continued to cause annoyance by raising his voice at one of the police officers around him. He then got more agitated and cursed at the police officer." Moorthy was arrested soon after, the court heard.

He was sitting in the back seat of a police vehicle going towards the Police Cantonment Complex when he abused Sgt Chong with vulgar language and threatened to kill the officer.

Moorthy was undergoing a medical assessment later that day to ensure that he was fit for detention at the Central Police Division when he made an obscene hand gesture at another policeman.