Consultant jailed for claiming cop pointed gun at his head
Man jailed 20 weeks for making false police reports
He felt that the police officer attending to his complaint was not up to standard. So he acted against him.
But instead of going through the proper channels, Satwant Singh, 55, made several false police reports, alleging that a police officer had pulled a gun on him.
Singh, who pleaded guilty to three charges of giving false information to a public servant, was yesterday sentenced to 20 weeks' jail.
Another two similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
On Oct 29 last year, Singh, who worked as an overseas consultant, got into a dispute with his neighbour at his Toa Payoh block.
The police were called in at 3.20pm. Sergeant Faris Suparli and his partner were at the scene.
Singh felt that Sgt Faris did not handle the incident well and he made several calls to the 999 hotline, hoping that a more senior officer would attend to him.
He made his first call at 4.40pm, alleging that Sgt Faris had threatened him.
DRUNK
At 7.05pm, he called the hotline again.
This time, Singh accused Sgt Faris of pointing a gun at his head, threatening him not to call the police any more because he was drunk.
"They reckon I'm drunk and won't take any action. Under what jurisdiction is this?" he told the officer who picked up his call.
"I've been calling 999 and nobody dare to come to my house (sic)."
About 45 minutes later, he made a third call, again to the 999 hotline.
He again accused Sgt Faris of pulling out his revolver and pointing it at his head.
Singh said the officer was at the void deck and he was going to go after the officer, adding "if you find him dead, not my problem".
He made a fourth call at 8.25pm, again accusing the officer of pulling a gun on him.
At 9.35pm, Senior Investigation Officer Chin Yong Feng visited Singh at his home and interviewed him.
Singh claimed that Sgt Faris pointed a revolver at his face when he opened the door of his unit and continued holding the gun for about 10 seconds before he panicked and closed the door.
But he could not elaborate on how the officer had held the revolver.
Despite being warned of the consequences of lying to the police, Singh maintained his claims, which investigations later revealed were untrue.
He later admitted that he made the complaints because he was upset at the situation and wanted a more senior officer to look into his matter.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Eunice Lau said Singh had impeded public servants in the exercise of their duties by his calls.
DIVERSION
There was unnecessary diversion of public resources and time was spent recording statements by the public servant over the false accusations.
She said that the false allegations Singh had made was a serious crime that had caused the officer distress.
Singh, who was unrepresented, apologised for what he had done, saying he was having a strained relationship with his wife, who is back in the Philippines.
He could have been jailed for up to a year and/or fined up to $5,000 per charge.
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