Clerical error led to man’s early release from jail; remaining sentence later served

SINGAPORE – A clerical error at the State Courts led to the early release of a man convicted of assaulting two police officers, weeks before his scheduled release date.

He was sentenced to 32 weeks’ jail on Oct 27, 2025, after pleading guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from duty and harassing a public servant.

A clerical error in the Warrant of Commitment caused the jail terms for both offences to run concurrently, instead of consecutively as originally ordered, the State Courts said on Jan 30.

This meant that the 32-year-old had to serve only 20 weeks’ jail. After accounting for the time already spent in remand, he was released on the same day he was sentenced.

A State Courts spokesperson did not state how the error was identified but said the man voluntarily returned to court on Oct 31, 2025, to serve out his remaining sentence.

“This incident did not result in him serving any additional time in prison, nor did it result in the time spent by him in prison falling short of what had been ordered,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that process improvements have been implemented to prevent similar administrative errors, but did not elaborate.

Court documents show that the man had made a nuisance call to the Singapore Civil Defence Force’s emergency hotline on July 9, 2025, with the intention of annoying the operator.

On July 14, two police officers were dispatched to Pasir Ris Polyclinic to apprehend the man after receiving information on his whereabouts.

The officers questioned him, and he became agitated, prompting them to arrest him.

The man put up a struggle, and during the confrontation, he punched the officers – one on the side of the mouth and the other on the right temple.

He was eventually arrested with the assistance of onlookers at the polyclinic and continued to hurl verbal abuse at the officers while being escorted to the police vehicle.

The man has since finished serving his original sentence.

This is not the first time a clerical error has resulted in the wrong sentence being meted out.

In 2007, a man was sentenced to nine months’ jail and five strokes of the cane after he admitted to helping an illegal moneylender harass a debtor.

A clerical error resulted in him receiving eight strokes instead of five. He then sued the Government for damages over the extra strokes, with his family asking for $3 million in compensation.

The Government later settled the dispute for an undisclosed sum.