SINGAPORE - A Briton who allegedly failed to don a mask in public on three occasions amid the Covid-19 pandemic is now accused of refusing to comply with an auxiliary police officer's directions to put on a surgical mask when he turned up at the State Courts building in Havelock Square last month.

Philip Richard Mockridge was charged on Thursday (Feb 3) with voluntarily obstructing a public servant from carrying out his duties. The 54-year-old Singapore permanent resident is accused of committing the offence at 8.48am on Jan 11.

He now faces four charges in all, having earlier been handed three charges under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act. Mockridge is accused of failing to wear a mask at Sengkang MRT station at around 10.15pm on Nov 26, 2020.

He allegedly failed to don a mask again at Serangoon MRT station at around 11pm on Dec 19 that year. He purportedly did the same thing at City Square Mall in Kitchener Road, near Little India, at 8.47pm on May 16 last year.

His bail was set at $15,000 on Thursday and his pre-trial conference will be held on Feb 25.

For each charge under the Act, a first-time offender can be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $10,000. A repeat offender can be jailed for up to a year and fined up to $20,000.

For voluntarily obstructing a public servant from carrying out his duties, an offender can be jailed for up to three months and fined up to $2,500.