Woman who refused to wear mask in Sun Plaza pleads guilty to 3 charges

She told the judge in court she was not well.

Belmont Lay | June 13, 2020, 01:10 AM

The woman seen on a video refusing to wear her mask and raising her voice at two men in Sun Plaza shopping mall has pleaded guilty to three charges on Friday, June 12.

Kasturi Govindasamy Retnamsamy, 40, who is unemployed, appeared in court via video-link.

She pleaded guilty to one count of using abusive words on a security guard, another count of using criminal force on a policewoman, and breaching Covid-19 regulations.

Three other counts of harassment will be considered during sentencing on June 26.

Kasturi told the judge in court: "Even if I were to plead guilty, what evidence is there that I would be given proper help?"

She then claimed she has "multiple personalities" issues and "extreme rage", The Straits Times reported.

The Singaporean is pending a report on her suitability for a Mandatory Treatment Order, a community-based sentencing option.

Offenders given MTO will not serve jail time.

They have to undergo psychiatric treatment at the Institute of Mental Health for a period of up to three years instead.

She is currently in remand at Changi Women’s Prison.

Background

Kasturi was involved in two incidents on two different days at Sun Plaza.

She was first spotted on April 29 at around noon with a mask in her hand while in the mall.

She refused to put it on when told to and responded by insulting mall staff and hurling vulgarities at a security officer.

This was the incident that was caught on camera and shared online.

She could be seen taunting a man to remove his mask to speak with her.

Her second visit to the mall was on May 7 at around 2pm.

She threw her NRIC onto the table and used vulgar language on the mall staff when asked to scan her card for contact tracing purposes.

She then entered the mall without scanning her NRIC.

She subsequently sat on the floor at the third floor of the mall.

She told a security supervisor who approached her that she was "exercising".

Police soon arrived and she was arrested for verbally abusing the security supervisor, as she had said "F*** you" and "You idiot" to him.

A female officer suffered a 5cm scratch on her right forearm when she tried to handcuff Kasturi, who resisted arrest.

For verbally abusing another person, she can be jailed for up to six months and fined up to S$5,000.