SINGAPORE, Sept 19 — A 37-year-old construction worker was fined S$400 (RM1,315) today for defecating at the entrance of The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands last year.

Appearing in court, Ramu Chinnarasa, an Indian national, pleaded guilty to one charge under the Environmental Public Health (Public Cleansing) Regulations.

An image of Ramu committing the act went viral on Facebook last October, garnering more than 1,500 likes, 1,700 comments and 4,700 shares in about two days.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Adelle Tai said the incident took place on October 30, 2023.

Prior to that, Ramu had drunk three bottles of hard liquor and was gambling inside the Marina Bay Sands casino.

At about 5.00am, he left the casino. Ramu wanted to relieve himself but could not go to the toilet as he was still heavily intoxicated.

So outside a restaurant near the entrance of Marina Bay Sands at 7.01am, Ramu took off his pants, squatted and defecated on the floor.

He then left the building and slept on one of the stone benches outside Marina Bay Sands until about 11.00am, before returning to his dormitory in Kranji.

DPP Tai said that a security officer at Marina Bay Sands saw a post containing a video of Ramu defecating later that day and made a police report.

The prosecutor told the court Ramu left Singapore on October 31, 2023 and returned "sometime later”.

On June 4 this year, he tried to enter the same casino and was detected as an "undesirable guest”. A police report was made and he was arrested.

Ramu asked the court for "the lowest fine”.

In response, District Judge Christopher Goh Eng Chiang said: "Do you know how to get the lowest fine? Don’t do this in public.

"Better still, don’t get yourself so drunk that this happens. I want you to know if this happens again — I hope not — the fine will be higher than today.”

DPP Kiera Yu called for a fine of S$400 to S$500, noting that Ramu had defecated in public for about 10 minutes.

"The offender did not make any attempts to clean up after himself, nor did he inform any cleaners of the act,” said the prosecutor.

"If not for the fact that his offence was filmed by a member of public and subsequently discovered by the MBS security team, the offender’s faeces would be left in the open for an extended period of time, in a public shopping mall with heavy foot traffic,” said the prosecutor.

She added the damage to public cleanliness was "significant”.

Any person found guilty of defecating in a public place that is not a sanitary convenience for such purpose can be fined up to S$1,000 for the first offence, and to a further fine of up to S$100 for every day the offence continues after conviction. — TODAY