SINGAPORE – A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight steward who left isolation despite having Covid-19 was sentenced to one month and two weeks’ jail on Wednesday.

Fabian Amos Gilbert, 30, was convicted on Monday after pleading guilty to an offence under the Infectious Diseases Act.

He had a sore throat, fever and runny nose after he arrived in Singapore from London on March 18, 2020.

He went to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for a swab test and was admitted after he was found to be Covid-19-positive the next day. He was later issued an isolation order for him to be detained and isolated in a room at D’Resort for about a month.

He shared a room with a 24-year-old man, and still tested positive for Covid-19 on April 16, 2020.

In the early hours of April 18, 2020, Fabian could not sleep and decided to leave D’Resort without permission, in breach of the order.

Closed-circuit television footage shows him leaving his room at 2.55am.

He walked to a fence that separated D’Resort from Pasir Ris Park, and stepped on a fire hydrant to climb over the fence.

When confronted later by his roommate about his actions, Fabian made light of the risks, saying he had been “escaping the law since 1993”.

He returned to D’Resort only at around 4.50pm, after spending time at the park and beach.

On Wednesday, District Judge Prem Raj noted that while the beach was closed to the public at the time, the park was still accessible.

He added that the breach took place just 11 days after Singapore had imposed a circuit breaker to contain the spread of Covid-19, and some eight months before vaccines were available here.

The judge said the offences must be seen against the backdrop of a time when not much was known about the virus, which was a potentially fatal threat.

Fabian has been offered bail of $5,000, and is expected to begin serving his sentence from March 29.

For breaching the isolation order, he could have been jailed for up to six months and fined up to $10,000.