By now, you would surely have heard of the ‘tragic’ love story between Mr Hu Jun and Ms Shi Sha, a Chinese couple that was cruelly afflicted with the dreaded Covid-19 disease.
But if you somehow haven’t heard of this modern, ‘twisted’ and virus-laced take on the age-old Romeo and Juliet trope, here’s a quick rundown:
For a start, Mr Hu Jun had arrived in Singapore on 22 Jan and subsequently tested positive for the virus on 31 Jan. However, he allegedly gave fake information to a health officer about his whereabouts.
Ms Shi Sha, on the other hand, was issued a quarantine order after her husband was ascertained to be a positive case. Instead of complying like the law-abiding Ah Sohs of Singapore, however, she allegedly flouted the rules and left their marital home in favour of a hotel…
Without telling anyone about it.
In addition, Ms Shi Sha also lied about the exact unit she resided in and about the location where she had hailed a taxi on the way to Singapore General Hospital (SGH).
And so, the authority had no other choice to but to slap the couple with multiple charges in court, which in turn led to the topic headline in this article:
Chinese Couple With COVID-19 Who Lied to MOH Would Only Plead Guilty if They Don’t Go to Jail
Hu Jun, a 38-year-old China National from Wuhan, is “accused of obstructing contact tracing” by feeding the wrong information to a health officer in regards to his whereabouts.
His wife, on the other hand, faces three charges of “obstructing health officials’ work”, as well as another separate charge of “failing to comply with isolation conditions”.
They were charged under the Infectious Diseases Act. If convicted, both husband and wife could face up to six months’ jail, a maximum of S$10,000 fine or both per charge.
Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.
Though as it turns out, the Chinese couple isn’t that averse to pleading guilty, but on one single, not so underlying condition:
That they don’t go to jail.
Yes, folks. Their lawyer is officially advocating for a fine, though if you’ve read through the penalty list you would know that the alternative’s really taxing on one’s pocket.
But it seems like money isn’t an issue for them.
On Friday (24 April), Lawyer Chung Ting Fai turned up in court via video conference to represent his clients, and relayed that the couple was not “averse to taking a certain course” if they’re able to procure a non-custodial sentence in return. Or in other words;
His clients will only plead guilty if the prosecution requests for a fine.
Should jail time be in the mix, he expressed that they will not plead guilty.
Again, one has to remember that the maximum fine for each offence entails a hefty S$10,000.
Well, anything’s better than a criminal record in this time and age, I guess.
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Adjournment Period
Fresh off the revelation, the prosecutor requested for a final adjournment period of two weeks, which the judge would go on to grant. An adjournment period was granted earlier in March.
The defence lawyer was also reminded to have his clients appear in court, so that they can be granted bail.
Mr Hu Jun has since recovered from the infection, and was allowed to leave the hospital on 19 Feb 2020.