Jail, fine for man who took photos and videos of ICA officer at Woodlands Checkpoint

SINGAPORE – A driver who took photos and videos of an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer at Woodlands Checkpoint and insulted another officer in 2024 has been jailed.

On Jan 29, Wong Jeo Wah, 38, was sentenced to four weeks’ and three days’ jail and fined $2,000. He must serve five more days in jail if he is unable to pay the fine.

The Singaporean pleaded guilty to three offences: using insulting words towards a public servant, providing false information to a public servant, and voluntarily causing hurt to a woman in a separate incident.

Four other offences, including taking photos of a protected area without permission from the authorities, were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

The incident involving the ICA officer

happened on Aug 12, 2024, at about 12.30pm at a departure lane counter at Woodlands Checkpoint.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Cheah Wenjie told the court that Wong was driving into Malaysia with his fiancee at the time and had stopped his vehicle for immigration checks.

An ICA officer directed him to wind down the passenger window to verify if there were other passengers in the rear seats. Wong had already done so but had not removed the window shade, which obscured the officer’s view into the car.

Wong removed the car shade and grumbled aloud at the request, lamenting in Singlish: “Wah lao.”

The officer asked Wong to repeat himself, and Wong said he was talking to his fiancee. He then used his mobile phone to take photos and videos of the officer.

Other ICA officers later directed Wong to delete the photos and videos he had taken. After he did so, the officers allowed him to leave the checkpoint.

But while Wong was in Malaysia, these photos and videos were posted on the Complaint Singapore Facebook group under the username “Sky Sg”.

The Facebook user named the officer and the counter he was working at, and made negative comments about an exchange with the officer. The officer subsequently made a police report.

Insulted officer

When Wong drove back to Singapore with his fiancee four days later on Aug 16, he was stopped and referred to ICA officers as he was wanted for investigations.

An officer attending to Wong noticed he had deleted a WhatsApp chat on his phone, and explained he was supposed to use his phone only to contact his next of kin.

“The accused responded angrily that he still needed to use his phone, and... used an insulting word towards (the officer),” said DPP Cheah.

Wong called the officer “stupid” twice and said he was not scared of the officer’s body-worn camera.

On the same day, Wong lied to a police investigation officer (IO) that he was not the owner of the “Sky Sg” Facebook account. He claimed he had sent the photos and videos to a friend, who could have made the post.

The IO later traced the login records of “Sky Sg” to the IP address registered to Wong’s residence, and found that the e-mail address used to register the account belonged to Wong.

When confronted with the evidence, Wong admitted he had created the account, but continued to claim that he did not create the post.

The court also heard that Wong assaulted two women in December 2024 in an unrelated incident, after he had been charged in court over his prior offences.

DPP Cheah said Wong’s false information had caused public investigative resources to be wasted to ascertain the truth.

The prosecutor added that Wong had previously been sentenced to five weeks’ jail for voluntarily causing hurt in two incidents.

He had swung his motorcycle helmet at a stranger’s head in 2020, and also threw punches at and slapped a co-worker in 2021.

In mitigation, defence lawyer Anil Singh Sandhu said his client was very sorry for his actions.