A Singaporean court on Thursday sentenced to jail for three years a person of Indian origin for making prank calls to the police on multiple occasions, reported Channel NewsAsia. Gurcharan Singh, 61, was also given an additional 66 days for breaching his remission order after being jailed earlier for the same offence.
Singh, who works as a cleaner, made the calls over two days in June after consuming alcohol, said the court. While on the first occasion he made two calls, on the next he called 15 times.
Singh, a habitual offender, has been prank-calling the police since 2000, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Daphne Lim. His most recent conviction, a two-year jail term, came in 2016.
While Singh apologised and asked for a lighter sentence, Lim sought jail term of three years and nine months. Lim contended that Singh had committed the offence again while out on bail and breached his remission order. Lim added that the prank calls made to the police inconvenience those who may be in genuine need of intervention. “His underlying problem is alcohol use disorder,” said the prosecutor.
Singh’s “main issue is that of drinking” and “after it, the accused gets into all kinds of trouble”, said District Judge Eddy Tham.
On June 10, Singh called 999 from a public phone in an apartment block and told the operator, “You are stupid.” He added that he had planted dynamite at the immigration house. He was arrested on the same day after the police traced the call location. They also recovered three empty beer cans from his possession.
Later that month, Singh prank-called the police 15 times in a day.
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