It goes without saying that couples should stand up for each other in the face of adversity, but that’s probably something that you should think twice about when it concerns the law.
And it seems like Danish national Claus Nicolajsen learned that the hard way, for he was sentenced to one week in jail just yesterday (29 June) after he pleaded guilty to one charge of giving a public servant information he knew to be false.
According to his lawyer, Mr Ong Ying Ping, Nicholajsen will be appealing the sentence.
And here’s what Nicholajsen did for his wife that got him marked up with a jail sentence.
Wife Hit Lamp Post After Drink Driving
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Zu Zhao told the court on 29 June that Liu Xia, Nicolajsen’s wife, was out with her friends at Sentosa Golf Club on 22 October 2019.
The group spent the afternoon together and had dinner afterwards, and Liu drank wine during the meal.
“She informed [her husband] that she would be at the Sentosa Golf Club and [he] was aware that she would drink alcohol with her friends,” DPP Lee explained.
At around 9.30pm that night, Liu departed from the golf club and proceeded to drive home to the couple’s condominium at Sentosa Cove.
However, she ended up colliding into a lamp post along Allanbrooke Road while driving off.
After Liu reached the condominium, Nicolajsen met her at the car park of their condominium.
There, they also came across a Sentosa ranger who told Nicholajsen about Liu’s collision while driving home.
Man Lied that Wife Was Not at Home When Police Wanted to Find Her
Thereafter, past midnight at around 12.30am on 23 October 2019, personnel came knocking on the couple’s door to speak to Liu about her collision.
A traffic police officer, a Sentosa ranger, a security guard from the condominium as well as a number of police officers turned up outside the couple’s unit and asked for Liu in order to administer a breathalyser test.
Nicolajsen answered the door, but told the officers that his wife was not at home.
Instead, he lied and said that Liu was at Holland Village with his friends.
Kept Denying that His Wife Was at Home
After hearing Nicolajsen’s explanation, the traffic police officer asked him to call his wife.
Nicolajsen went back into his unit, allegedly to do so, but he soon came out after a while and explained that he was unable to reach her.
He then proceeded to continually deny that he had taken the lift up to his unit with his wife, and even started showing signs of annoyance at how the officers had come up to speak to him past midnight even after his claims.
“The accused confirmed once more that his wife was in Holland Village and emphasised that he had repeated this statement ‘500 times’,” DPP Lee noted.
Refused to Let Officers Enter Unit
While outside the unit, the officers were able to contact the security officers of the condominium, who confirmed that Liu did not leave the condominium premises.
The ranger and officers then proceeded to stand outside the back door of the unit and requested to enter the unit through the back door.
However, Nicolajsen rejected the request, disallowing them to enter his unit.
The traffic police officer had no choice but to leave Nicolajsen with his name and contact number.
The officer also informed him to tell his wife to head down to the Traffic Police headquarters in the morning.
Breathalyser Test Only Conducted More than 12 Hours After Collision
Liu only ended up taking a breathalyser test at the Traffic Police headquarters on 23 October 2019 at about 11am.
Which was more than 12 hours after Liu had collided into the lamp post.
“The significant lapse of time resulted in the police being unable to obtain a reliable or accurate test of Liu Xia’s breath or blood alcohol level around the time of the accident,” DPP Lee noted in court.
Liu pleaded guilty to two offences under the Road Traffic Act, and was fined $1,400 on 15 March last year.
She was also disqualified from holding or obtaining all classes of driving licences for three months.
As for Nicolajsen, he gave a statement on 25 October 2019 at the Traffic Police headquarters.
At that point in time, he said that he was unaware of his wife’s whereabouts when the officers came to their unit, but she had texted him to inform him that she was at Holland Village.
Debate Over Nicolajsen’s Jail Sentence
In court, DPP Lee had asked for a jail sentence lasting two to three weeks for Nicolajsen.
He said, “The accused’s false statements caused appreciable harm primarily because he perverted the course of justice by shielding Liu Xia from possible prosecution for drink driving and a potential conviction and mandatory disqualification from driving.”
On the other hand, Mr Ong opposed having a jail sentence for his client since it was “not appropriate” to assume that just because Nicolajsen knew about his wife’s accident, he knew that the officers had come to his unit to investigate her for drink driving as well.
“I would agree that the custodial threshold would be crossed if the (traffic police officer) had stated he was investigating Ms Liu Xia for drink driving and the accused responded with that false information that she was in Holland Village. But this not what happened here,” Mr Ong stated.
Nicolajsen is currently out on bail pending the outcome of his appeal.
For giving information he knew to be false to a public servant, he could have faced up to two years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
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