Student who returned from UK with flu-like symptoms On Trial For Exposing Risk to Public
A 24-year-old student who returned from the UK with flu like symptoms is on trial for exposing the public to the risk of the Covid-19 infection, Esther Tan Ling Ying had returned to Singapore on March 23, 2020, and was served a 14-day Stay-Home Notice on the same day. However, instead of heading back home immediately, Tan went to Orchis food court at Changi Airport Terminal 1 with her parents and later the same day, she headed to Clementi Family and Aesthetic Clinic located at Clementi Avenue 3 where she obtained medicine and purposely lied about her travel history.
A few days later, Tan tested positive where the Deputy Public Prosecutor Sanjiv Vaswavi where she slammed Tan’s behaviour as abhorrent and added that she has no excuse for the breach of her SHN. In additional, the ICA officer who had Tan and severe others on their SHN was called to the stand as the first witness for the trial.
Tan’s defence lawyer, Tan Cheng Kiong, in his cross-examination of the officer, questioned him at length about the briefing process and put it to him that the briefing had not been clear about when exactly the SHN started. The trial is still ongoing where if she found guilty, she faces a fine of up to S$10,000 and a jail term of up to six months.
