A man has been fined for patting a precinct’s hand after singing her a song during the 2023 presidential election

SINGAPORE: A man was fined S$500 (US$378) by a court on Wednesday (Oct 30) for patting the hand of a polling officer while waiting to cast his vote in the 2023 presidential election.

Wickramasingh Ashley Anura, a 51-year-old resident of Singapore, pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting a 31-year-old female officer.

The court heard that the victim was a primary school teacher who was assigned to preside over the Geylang polling station on September 1, 2023.

On that day, the people of Singapore went to the polling stations to cast their votes for three candidates: Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who eventually winning 70.4 percent of the vote; Mr Ng Kok Song, former Chief Investment Officer of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC; and Mr Tan Kin Lian, former chief executive of NTUC Income.

Wickramasinghe arrived at the polling station around 9:30 am on 1 September 2023 with his girlfriend to cast his vote.

He was led to the counter where the victim was standing, where he was to be issued a ballot.

The victim, whose identity is protected by a gag order, noticed that Wickramasinghe smelled of alcohol.

She read him his full name and Wickramasinghe sang while maintaining eye contact with the victim.

This made the woman uncomfortable.

Wickramasingh then reached out and stroked the woman’s hand.

The victim quickly pulled his hand away and the interaction was witnessed by a senior presiding officer at the polling station who told Wickramasinghe to stop.

Wickramasingh let go and replied, “Wow, security.”

The police were called and arrested Wickramasinghe, who later admitted he was drunk when he touched the victim’s arm.

No previous convictions.

EXECUTION ARGUMENTS

Prosecutors had sought a fine of S$500, which it said was in line with other cases.

Although his touch was more cursory than the previous case, the act was directed against a public servant in the performance of her duties, which is an aggravating factor, the prosecutor said.

Wickramasinghe’s lawyer, Mr Jared Lee of Regent Law, asked for a fine of no more than S$500.

He said his client was truly remorseful, fully cooperative with authorities and this was his first contact with the law.

Wickramasinghe is “single and single” and “supports his elderly parents financially”, Mr Lee said.

To prevent such incidents from happening again, Wickramasinghe began taking an opioid blocker before drinking, which blocks the pleasure of drinking alcohol, the lawyer said.

Mr Wickramasingh regretted his conduct, which had caused “unnecessary stress” to his family and the victim, Mr Lee said.

Judge noted that the incident took place at the polling station, and the precinct officer was involved. She also drew attention to Wickramasinghe’s behavior – how he sang and “retorted mockingly” when he was told to stop, in addition to the fact that he was drunk.

However, she also noted his early guilty plea and mitigating factors.

She ordered a fine of S$500 with a two-day jail term in default.

Wickramasinghe paid the fine in full.

The penalty for using criminal force is imprisonment of up to three months, a fine of up to S$1,500, or both.