SINGAPORE: Six people who were caught flouting COVID-19 “circuit breaker” measures at Robertson Quay have had their work passes revoked and are permanently banned from working in Singapore, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Thursday (Jun 25).
They were among seven people fined earlier on Thursday for gathering at Robertson Quay in breach of the rules.
The seven are: Neil Gordon Buchan, a 30-year-old British national; Perry Scott Blair, a 37-year-old British citizen; James Titus Beatt, a 33-year-old British national; Joseph William Poynter, a 35-year-old British citizen; married couple, Americans Bao Nguyen Brown, 40, and Jeffrey George Brown, 52; and Michael Czerny, a 45-year-old Austrian national.
Czerny is also a Singapore permanent resident.
All seven pleaded guilty to one count each of breaching COVID-19 regulations by meeting each other without reasonable excuse.
They were fined between S$8,000 and S$9,000.
On May 16, at about 6pm, Buchan, Beatt, Poynter and Blair ran into one another at Bar Bar Black Sheep, a bar in Robertson Quay. They bought alcoholic drinks there before walking along the pathway running parallel to the Singapore River towards Clarke Quay. The group then bought more drinks at two other locations – Boomarang, another bar, and Italian restaurant Rosso Vino in Merbau Road.
They later stood next to the pathway near Rosso Vino where they chatted, drank and smoked for about 25 minutes before leaving.
The court heard that Bao and Jeffrey Brown went to Robertson Quay after exercising together, at about 6pm the same day.
They bought alcoholic drinks from TAP @ Robertson Quay, a bar, and went to a table nearby to drink, where they encountered Czerny walking his dog in the area.
The three chatted and drank for about 32 minutes, before the couple and Czerny parted ways.
Photographs of crowds along Robertson Quay, which showed people failing to keep a safe distance of 1m from one another, went viral last month. Most of the people photographed were not wearing masks, while some had their masks lowered as they spoke to one another.
