Palanivelu Ramasamy, 48, a registered news vendor with SPH, was arrested and charged for an offence under the Infectious Diseases (COVID-19 – Stay Orders) Regulations 2020 on Apr. 7, 2020.

A representative from Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) confirmed in court on April 16, 2020 that SPH will be engaging a defence counsel for Palanivelu as the prosecution has asked for a custodial sentence for him.

The prosecution will be asking for a sentence of six to eight weeks for Palanivelu for flouting his SHN.

He is currently on bail, which has been extended.

Delivered newspapers in spite of a SHN

According to a joint media release by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Apr. 7, Ramasamy had arrived in Singapore from India on Mar. 21, 2020.

He had stayed there for around a month and was served with a Stay-Home Order (SHN) upon his return to Singapore.

He acknowledged that he understood the contents of the notice and that he could not leave his place of residence for 14 days.

On Mar. 30, 2020, a team of officers from visited Ramasamy’s place of residence as part of enforcement checks, but did not find him there.

Investigations later revealed that Ramasamy had left his place of residence for about two hours to deliver newspapers.

He took a bus and walked to Goldhill Plaza in Newton, and delivered newspapers to multiple units across multiple floors.

He would then walk to the bus stop and took a bus home.

"His actions exposed him to various people, and this non-compliance with the SHN requirements posed a risk to public health", the release read.

Any person convicted of an offence under the Infectious Diseases (COVID-19 – Stay Orders) Regulations 2020 is liable to a fine of up to S$10,000, or up to six months’ imprisonment, or both.

Top image via Matthias Ang