‘I didn’t know is an offence in Singapore’: Man fined for eating cigarette to block NEA’s enforcement

SINGAPORE: A man who ate a teenager’s cigarette to allow the teen to avoid enforcement action by the National Environment Agency (NEA) was fined S$1,000 (US$744) by a court on Tuesday (Jul 30).
In mitigation, 53-year-old Ramamoorthy Reddiar Jayaraman said he did not know it was an offence to eat a cigarette in Singapore.
The judge told him it was not an offence, and that he could eat as many cigarettes as he wished, but obstructing an NEA officer was the offence he was facing.
The Singaporean pleaded guilty to one charge under the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Act for obstructing an NEA enforcement officer by eating a cigarette.
The court heard that Ramamoorthy was drinking beer alone at the void deck of Block 515, Hougang Avenue 10 at about 8.40pm on Mar 18.
A teenager, who was not related to Ramamoorthy, joined him at the void deck and began smoking a cigarette, despite there being a prominent “No Smoking” sign.
Two NEA enforcement officers went to perform checks around the void deck and one of them saw the unnamed teenager smoking.
She walked towards him, introduced herself and showed him her NEA Authority Card. She told him that he had committed an offence and asked for his particulars.
The teenager looked at the officer nervously but did not respond, and the officer repeated her request.
Ramamoorthy then asked the teenager to hand him the cigarette that the teen had been smoking.
When he received the cigarette, Ramamoorthy put it in his mouth and ate it. Then, he told the teen to run away, and the boy fled.
Court documents did not state if the cigarette was lit or not.
Ramamoorthy’s actions had prevented the NEA officers from taking possession of the cigarette that was connected to an offence.
He later stated that he had acted on the spur of the moment as he wanted to help the teenager avoid having a “blemished record at a tender age”.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Lee sought a fine for Ramamoorthy, leaving the quantum to the court.
The maximum fine for a first offender is S$2,000.
Ramamoorthy was unrepresented.
He told the court: “Eating a cigarette, I didn’t know is an offence in Singapore.”
He said he was the sole breadwinner and asked to be pardoned and given a lighter fine. He also asked for his passport back as his grandmother is in Kuala Lumpur.
District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan told Ramamoorthy: “First and foremost, I would like to disabuse you of the error … you are not here because you ate a cigarette. You want to eat all number of cigarettes, that’s entirely up to you, the court has no issue with that. You are here for the offence of obstructing the exercise of an NEA officer’s power. I just want to disabuse you of the misimpression.”
Ramamoorthy paid the fine in full.
CNA has contacted NEA about whether any action was taken against the teenager.
Anyone caught smoking in a prohibited place can be given a composition or out-of-court fine of S$200. If the case goes to court, the maximum penalty goes up to S$1,000.