Woman jailed for purposely sneezing at Ion security guard

A Taiwanese woman who purposely sneezed at a security guard after she was denied entry into a mall amid the Covid-19 outbreak in April, was sentenced yesterday to 11 weeks in jail.

After sneezing at the guard at Ion Orchard, Sun Szu-Yen, 46, said: "You get it? You get it already!"

She then took her passport out of her bag and added: "I am China. I am Taiwan."

Yesterday, District Judge Seah Chi-Ling said Sun was found to be unsuitable for sentencing that would have kept her out of jail.

Sun, who was in Singapore on a long-term pass, had pleaded guilty in June to one count of performing a rash act and an unrelated harassment charge.

After Sun admitted to the offences, the judge called for her to be assessed for a mandatory treatment order, where offenders receive treatment for their mental condition in lieu of jail time.

But she was not found to be suffering from any mental illness.

The sneezing incident happened on April 12. The court heard that security guard Devika Rani Muthu Krishnan, 56, was deployed to one of the entrances of Ion Orchard at a lift lobby on the fifth storey of the mall.

Her duties included ensuring that shoppers' particulars were recorded on a form for contact tracing, and that they wore masks before entering the mall.

Sun, who was not wearing a mask, arrived at around 12.40pm and filled out a form.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Deborah Lee had earlier said: "The victim reminded the accused to wear a mask before entering the mall. However, the accused used her scarf to wrap around her mouth instead.

"When the victim did not allow the accused entry into the mall, the accused pulled another scarf out of her bag and indicated that she wanted to use it as a mask."

Sun then sneezed in Ms Devika Rani's direction when the security guard refused to let her pass.

Separately, the court heard that at around 10pm on June 4 last year, Sun felt "stressed and frustrated" while at home in her third-storey condominium unit near Bukit Timah Road. No reason was mentioned for what caused her to feel that way.

To vent her frustration, she picked up several items, including a vacuum cleaner and a glass bottle, and flung them out of a window. A security guard at the property alerted the police after she refused to calm down.