Man fined $1,000 for yelling profanities at MP Joan Pereira
A man shouted profanity-laced insults at Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Joan Pereira when he spotted her during a walkabout at Bukit Merah View Market and Hawker Centre earlier this year.
Gan Ah Guan, 57, was fined $1,000 on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to one count of harassment.
The Singaporean will have to spend five days behind bars if he is unable to pay the amount.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Samuel Chew said Ms Pereira was at the hawker centre in Block 115 Bukit Merah View around 11am on March 7 when Gan spotted her.
She was accompanied by Ms Wee Soh Hong, constituency director of the Henderson-Dawson division of Tanjong Pagar GRC.
Gan pointed at Ms Pereira, yelled insults and profanities at her and then left. Ms Wee heard the verbal abuse, said the DPP.
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Court documents did not disclose who alerted the authorities to Gan's actions, but he was charged in court following the incident.
Gan, who was unrepresented, told the court on Wednesday that he had been jobless for more than a year.
He also said he was feeling "depressed" and "stressed" when he committed the offence.
Gan added that he had shouted at Ms Pereira as he felt the MP did not do much to help residents.
For harassment, an offender can be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $5,000. - THE STRAITS TIMES
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