• Phoon Chiu Yoke faces a total of 21 charges, mostly for failing to wear a mask in public
• She gained notoriety after a video of her questioning a safe distancing ambassador at Marina Bay Sands went viral
• She is now also accused of repeatedly breaching her stay-home notice last year
• The prosecution said she is being investigated for a fresh offence committed as recently as June 25

SINGAPORE — A 53-year-old woman captured in viral videos without a face mask in public places, including the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) integrated resort, was on Tuesday (July 6) handed 14 new charges, mostly for similar breaches of Covid-19 laws.

Phoon Chiu Yoke, who gained notoriety in May after a video of her questioning a safe distancing ambassador at MBS went viral, now faces a total of 21 charges.

Apart from failing to wear a mask in public on numerous occasions, Phoon is also charged with breaching a stay-home notice in June last year, when she returned from the United Kingdom. She claimed to have returned from a weeks-long vacation in Scotland.

The period of her alleged offences now spans from June 28 last year to May 24 this year. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jane Lim said on Tuesday that Phoon is being investigated for a fresh offence committed as recently as June 25 this year, shortly after she was released on bail.

NEW CHARGES

Among the 14 fresh charges against Phoon, 10 were for failing to wear a mask in public at more locations, including on multiple occasions at MBS.

Phoon is now said to have gone maskless at: 

• MBS on July 5, on two occasions on July 8 and on July 9 last year. She was serving her stay-home notice there at the time

• Saint Andrew’s Cathedral on Jan 17, Feb 28 and March 28 this year

• Ion Orchard mall on May 6 this year

• Tiong Bahru Market on May 21 this year

• State Courts on May 24 this year, before her trial

She had also already been charged with breaching her stay-home notice — which ran from June 28 to July 12 last year — by leaving her MBS hotel room on June 28. 

On Tuesday, she was accused of leaving her room four other times while maskless. 

Court documents stated that she allegedly exposed others to the risk of coronvirus infection by twice loitering along the 29th floor corridor and lift lobby of MBS. 

She also purportedly went to the first level of the Tower 3 lift lobby and the first level of Tower 2 near the Adrift restaurant.

On Tuesday, Phoon continued to repeat her requests for the charges against her to be dropped, stating that she was a former naval officer and an “ex-plaintiff” and “eyewitness” to many “grave matters” in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).

During her last hearing, she asked to be “granted immunity as a citizen” due to these alleged past cases in which she was involved.

BAIL INCREASED TO S$12,000

DPP Lim sought an increase of Phoon’s bail amount from S$8,000 to S$12,000 due to her new charges and her failure to cooperate with the authorities for further investigations.

Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers called her on her mobile phone on July 3 and 4 this year and an email was sent to her, asking her to be available for a cautioned statement to be served on her. A voice message was also left on her mobile phone.

Phoon ignored all of this, DPP Lim said, adding that someone had picked up the calls but hung up soon after without speaking.

An ICA investigation officer also tried to speak to her outside the courtroom on Tuesday but she refused to talk to him, the prosecutor told the court.

When the officer contacted her bailor in the past few days, he confirmed that he would inform her of the authorities’ request to cooperate with investigations.

While she had been released on bail on the express condition that she abide by Covid-19 restrictions, she is now being investigated for a fresh offence, DPP Lim added.

Phoon — who remains without a lawyer — responded that she receives “a lot of prank calls” on her mobile phones and would occasionally miss them. She added that she had not given her email address to any ICA officers and it was “not uncommon” for her to “miss some emails”.

“If the ICA officer wanted to contact me in the last three weeks, they could have sent me a registered mail to my residence. To say I have failed to respond to attempts to contact me, I think I have a good challenge and defence to that,” she told District Judge Lorraine Ho.

Phoon also alleged that the ICA investigation officer who approached her earlier was “very aggressive”. “I had reason not to be engaged in conversation with him when he was in such a highly emotional state.”

She then reiterated previous claims that she had not worn a mask in the past due to medical conditions, some of which were “self-inflicted and some when I was serving (in the SAF)”. These conditions included eczema and “problems with feeling breathless”.

She added: “It's the most natural human response to pull down your mask to breathe… As a responsible Singapore citizen, I have complied with bail conditions as much as I could.

“Based on matters of humanity, ethics and values, I’m asking to consider dropping these charges.”

DPP Lim responded that she should refrain from “listing irrelevant reasons in this forum” and to fix a pre-trial conference given that she clearly disputed her charges. The prosecutor also pointed out that bail conditions were not to be complied with at an individual’s “whim and fancy”.

Phoon protested this, saying among other things: “If I am breathless, do you expect me to wear a mask and collapse? Because I couldn’t breathe.” 

District Judge Ho eventually cut her off and increased her bail sum to the amount sought, given the number of new charges. The judge also warned her to continue abiding by current Covid-19 restrictions and not to commit more offences.

Before Phoon left, the judge also told her to “remember to wear your mask properly” as it was only covering her mouth at some points.

Phoon was seen leaving the State Courts after her bailor posted bail. She will return for a pre-trial conference on July 23. 

BACKGROUND

Phoon was initially charged in December last year with not wearing a mask at Newton Food Centre. When her trial was set to begin in May, she was photographed removing her mask and smiling at news photographers as she left the State Courts.

She was hauled back to court the next day, when she said that she did not know she had to wear a mask in public and found it “very abnormal”.

She was then referred to the Institute of Mental Health for two weeks for a psychiatric assessment, but details of this have not been revealed in open court.

She first made headlines on May 15 after video clips of the incident at MBS and other purported instances where she failed to wear a mask went viral.

In a video taken at MBS, Phoon was heard questioning a safe distancing ambassador: "If you have no badge, why are you asking me to do something? Who are you representing?”

Phoon allegedly entered the shopping complex in the integrated resort without wearing a mask, despite repeated advice from the safe distancing ambassador to do so.

If convicted under Covid-19 laws, Phoon could face a jail term of up to six months or a fine of up to S$10,000, or both, for each of the 21 charges.