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The POFMA Office has issued a conditional warning to a woman in Singapore who posted on Facebook about the death of a three-year-old at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH).

Her Aug. 2021 post was quickly debunked by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and slapped with a POFMA order.

The woman, a 47-year-old Singaporean, has been taken to task for "making a statement knowing or having reason to believe that it is false and likely to harm the public interest", said the POFMA Office in a statement on its website on Mar. 31.

Woman "concocted the falsehood based on hearsay from an acquaintance"

The POFMA Office said investigations revealed that the woman had "concocted the falsehood based on hearsay from an acquaintance".

She went ahead to post the falsehood despite being "aware that no such death of a pre-schooler had been reported".

The woman had "taken steps to evade identification", using a social media account with a fake name to make the post.

She also made a further false representation that she had "permission from [the] girl’s mummy to post on FB”.

There were also Facebook comments posted from the account that made the original post, saying that MOH should "take down the post and sue [her]" if the contents were "fake news".

The post has since been deleted.

24-month conditional warning

"After considering all aspects of the case, the POFMA Office issued a 24-month conditional warning to the woman," said the statement.

This means that she can be prosecuted for the original crime if she reoffends during the 24 months.

The statement added that offences under section 7 of POFMA are punishable with a maximum fine of S$50,000, imprisonment for up to five years, or both.

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Top photo via HO Ching on Facebook and POFMA Office website

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