SINGAPORE — Annoyed that the Science Centre Singapore did not heed his advice to remove a feature which he felt was a hazard to children, a 73-year-old man decided to vent his frustration on a sales promoter for Tuas Power.

British citizen Colin Robert Jewell hurled a series of abusive words at Mr Maung Moe Min Oo, a sales promoter for the electricity retailer, and threw his informational pamphlets onto the floor.

On Monday (Jan 6), Jewell, who is a Singapore permanent resident, pleaded guilty to harassing the 32-year-old man, and was fined S$2,000 for his actions.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Dora Tay told the court that the incident happened on July 15 last year near J Link, beside Jcube shopping centre — a short distance from Science Centre Singapore.

Mr Maung was at his sales booth promoting Tuas Power when Jewell stopped by at around 1.30pm. Thinking that the older man was keen to find out more, Mr Maung approached him.

Jewell replied by telling the younger man to “f*** off, which took him by surprise. Mr Maung and his colleagues told police investigators that Jewell smelled of alcohol.

Jewell continued to shout vulgarities at Mr Maung, which caused him to feel harassed, Ms Tay said.

At this point, Mr Maung’s colleague called the police for assistance. As they waited, Jewell threw some Tuas Power pamphlets onto the floor to “express his displeasure”, Ms Tay said. He did this twice.

Mr Maung continued to attract Jewell’s ire, which prompted his colleague to call the police again.

In mitigation, Jewell, who was not represented by a lawyer, said that he was upset that the Science Centre did not remove a “very dangerous pump” despite the feedback he had given them. It was not stated what kind of pump this was.

“They were very reluctant to fix it properly. It is still not fixed, in my opinion,” he said.

“I was very angry with the failure of the Science Centre to protect the children who go there for a day out,” he said. “They don't intend to go there to have the hand smashed or amputated.”

“I’ve been involved in some very serious safety issues offshore in the oil and gas business, and I don’t walk away from safety hazards (without addressing them).”

In response to queries from TODAY, a spokesperson from Science Centre Singapore acknowledged that they had been approached by Jewell on July 15 last year regarding the safety concerns he had for one of their exhibitions.

“We immediately acknowledged his feedback and informed him that we’ll share and review his concerns internally,” the spokesperson said.

The equipment Jewell mentioned was thoroughly reviewed and deemed safe before being in operation, the spokesperson added.

“We take all feedback seriously and additional measures were taken to ensure safety,” the spokesperson said. “There’s been no incidents and we’ll continue reviewing all systems as per our internal quality control procedures.”

In response to Jewell’s mitigation comments, Ms Tay said that whatever dispute that Jewell had with the Science Centre was personal, and had nothing to do with Mr Maung.

District Judge Eddy Tham agreed. “It does not justify the use of abusive words against an innocent party who happened to cross (Jewell’s) path.”

Separately, Jewell is contesting two other charges that have been filed against him over two unrelated incidents.

A court document stated that Jewell was travelling on a bus on Nov 12 last year when he threw an empty drink can at another passenger and used abusive words on him. While the victim’s age was not stated, it was mentioned in court that he was an eight-year-old boy.

Jewell said on Monday that the boy, who had been drinking from the can on the bus, had been misbehaving and was even “fighting with his mother”.

Jewell said he took the can with the initial intention of passing it to the bus driver, but then “tossed” the can back to the boy when he was confronted by his mother.

For the second charge, Jewell allegedly shouted at a woman “for no apparent reason” on Aug 24, 2017.

The court heard that Jewell had shouted “Ah!” into the woman’s ear.

“She was keeping a massive, great, big cactus in a public place that slashed my arm,” he said. “It took me a month to get rid of that cactus. I had to go through the MP (Member of Parliament) to do it.”

In both instances, Jewell was charged with contraventions of the Protection from Harassment Act, and both carry a jail term of up to six months, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.

Jewell will return to court on Jan 28.