SINGAPORE, May 26 — Mediacorp actor Terence Cao was fined S$3,500 (RM10,939) yesterday (May 25) for violating Covid-19 safe distancing laws by holding a social gathering with 12 other people at his condominium unit last October. 

Cao, 53, was one of two people charged over the birthday party that involved several other Mediacorp artistes. The other attendees were each issued a S$300 composition fine.  

The group received flak from members of the public after a photograph of the party, which showed the group of people not wearing their masks, began circulating on social media.

Cao pleaded guilty to a single charge of allowing the others, who were not members of his household, to enter and remain at his residence on Daisy Road near Braddell Road on Oct 2 last year, between 9pm and 1am.

At the time of the offence, Singapore was in the second phase of reopening after a partial lockdown, with a five-person cap on gatherings to curb the potential spread of Covid-19. 

For gatherings in a home, five visitors were allowed at a household at any time.  

The court heard that Cao had organised the gathering to celebrate his 53rd birthday, as well as those of actors Jeffrey Xu, 32, and Shane Pow, 30.

Pow was dismissed by Mediacorp last month after he was charged with drink-driving in an unrelated incident.

Aside from the three of them, the party was meant to involve just three others — former magazine editor Lance Lim Chee Keong, 50, and artistes Heng Tee Kok, 45, and Jeremy Chan, 29.

Lim was the other person charged and was similarly fined S$3,000 last week.

As the evening progressed, more people arrived because Lim invited four other people — 987FM DJ Sonia Chew, 30; actress Julie Tan, 29; and marketing managers Debbie Lu, 33, and Eleanor Wang, 34.

Wang, who was tasked to get a birthday cake, then invited actress Dawn Yeoh, 34. Pow also invited part-time model and actress Valnice Yek, 22, who arrived at about 8pm.

Neither Wang nor Pow knew that more guests would be arriving.

Soon after, Tan Jun Chuan, 30, a sales manager, also not knowing that more guests would arrive later, turned up to surprise Cao. 

Tan, Heng and Lu arrived between 10pm and 11pm, while Chew, Xu and Chan arrived around 11pm, bringing the total number of guests at the apartment to 12.

At 11.24pm, all 13 of them held a cake-cutting ceremony and took group photos of everyone present. 

Xu later posted one of these photos on his Instagram Stories page, drawing attention to the gathering.

Six of them left the house between 12am and 1am, and one of them left between 1am and 2am. The remaining five guests left the house by 4am.

‘Agonised and anguished’

This was not Cao's first brush with the law. In 2008, he was banned from driving for two years and fined after he was convicted of drink-driving.

In mitigation, Cao’s lawyer, SS Dhillon, told the court that his client was sincerely remorseful and "did not anticipate that his birthday celebration would attract negative publicity, which has caused him emotional agony and anguish”.

"They all wanted to surprise each other out of goodwill… Unfortunately, his heart could not turn them away and, hence, he committed the offences.”

Dhillon noted that in September last year, before the party, Cao had produced several episodes of a miniseries titled Frontline Heroes as a tribute to workers who were holding front-facing jobs tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cao does not receive a salary from Mediacorp despite having a contract there, and started his food business last year selling mee siam to support himself and his 12-year-old daughter, the lawyer said.

As for Cao’s contributions to society, Dhillon listed examples such as his decade-long participation in the President’s Star Charity event. 

"The fear he received from his arrest, police investigations and court attendances has completely shell-shocked (him). He is so dislocated and petrified that he will never dare to be anything less than a law-abiding citizen henceforth,” Dhillon added. He sought the minimum fine possible.

Dhillon also said that Cao was caught between "either being legally wrong or morally incorrect” when more guests turned up.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Norman Yew replied to say that he could have simply turned them away.

The prosecutor said: "The choice given was to let them in or tell them no, we’re in a pandemic, there are laws to abide by… (The gathering) was not a momentary lapse. It lasted for several hours.” 

In sentencing Cao, District Judge A Sangeetha noted that such breaches were difficult to detect at private homes. She also reminded homeowners to exercise caution in allowing guests over.

Those who breach Covid-19 regulations can be jailed for up to six months or fined a maximum of S$10,000, or both. ― TODAY