Singapore:
A Singaporean of Indian descent, a repeat offender described by prosecutors as having a “tendency to abusively treat service workers”, has been jailed for six weeks after he threw racial insults at others on three separate occasions last year.
Peethambaran Dilip, 69, was sentenced to six weeks in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to two charges of harassment. The Singaporean also admitted that on one count he had uttered words with the intent of hurting someone’s racist feelings.
On Wednesday, Deputy Prosecutor Tan Zhi Hao said: “(Peethambaran) his abuse in the present case escalated to include racist insults. This must be dealt with severely given the need to preserve racial harmony in Singapore.” The court heard that on June 9 last year, Peethambaran went to Clementi’s public library in a public residential area, opened a garbage can and spit in it. A cleaner who caught him doing so reported the matter to the library management, The Straits Times reported.
Librarian Keith Lim approached Peethambaran and advised him not to spit in the bin as it was an unsanitary act, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peethambaran was unhappy and lashed out at Lim, throwing racist insults at him.
The perpetrator struck again on July 22 last year when he went to an outpatient clinic in Marine Parade (another residential area) to top up his medication.
Patient service officer Cheok Lay Yean was manning a health monitoring station there when Peethambaran stepped forward, threw his driving ticket on a counter and uttered insulting words at her.
The DPP said: “Cheok told the suspect to stop, but he didn’t… The accused was known to outpatient clinic staff for having verbally abused outpatient staff on previous occasions.” Peethambaran returned to the outpatient clinic on 15 October last year and went to a pharmacy counter, where pharmacist Russell Lim asked him if he was collecting his medicines.
DPP Tan told the court: “The accused initially did not respond, but when Russell repeated his question, the accused uttered words along the lines of, ‘Of course I’m here to pick up my medication. If not, why am I here? ?’.” Peethambaran also directed a racist statement against Lim before leaving the premises. Later in the day, the police were alerted.
These were not his first offenses. Without disclosing details, the DPP said Peethambaran committed criminal harassment in 2005.
In 2017, he was also sentenced to six weeks in prison for assaulting a bus driver.
On Wednesday, the prosecutor urged district judge Jasbendar Kaur to sentence Peethambaran to at least six weeks in prison, adding: “It is deeply aggravating that the insulting words used by the accused were of a racist nature and conjured up violent images.
“General deterrence applies strongly as a sentencing consideration, as the accused committed the offenses against frontline health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic on at least two separate occasions.” For uttering words with the deliberate intent to hurt another’s racist feelings, an offender can face up to three years in prison and a fine.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)