SINGAPORE: A sports bar in the Jalan Besar area was fined S$5,000 by a court on Friday (Dec 10) for serving alcohol past 10.30pm during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Darts Buddy had closed its front roller shutters, but police and safe distancing ambassadors saw customers entering from the back.
A representative for the bar pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching a COVID-19 control order, by allowing consumption of liquor at its premises at 28 Beatty Road past 10.30pm.
A second charge of allowing customers to play poker cards on its premises on another occasion was taken into consideration.
The court heard that a group of police and safe-distancing officers were on duty on Jan 29 this year when they came across the restaurant.
They noticed that the front entrance was closed, with the roller shutters down to give the impression that the bar was shut, but people continued to enter the premises via the back.
When the officers entered Darts Buddy, they found at least 35 people inside. Several of them were consuming alcohol and there were at least two beer towers that were more than half full.
As a permitted enterprise, Darts Buddy was supposed to take reasonable steps to ensure COVID-19 measures were complied with, including that liquor consumption was to stop after 10.30pm.
Instead, the restaurant remained open to increase its sales, said the prosecutor.
This is the company's first offence, but the prosecutor called for a fine of between S$4,500 and S$5,000 as there was an attempt to avoid detection and a crowd size of more than 30 customers.
In mitigation, lawyer Dhanwant Singh asked for a S$4,000 fine instead. He said that the closing of the front shutters was not "really" an aggravating factor.
He said there was an incident where a highly intoxicated customer insisted on entering the premises around 10.30pm, so the bar started a policy of closing the front shutters at 10.30pm to prevent incoming customers.
"Because they are operating food as well, so they are allowed to operate until 12, but only consumption of liquor has to stop at 10.30pm," said Mr Singh.
The judge interjected to point out that the company had allowed customers to play poker cards at 9pm on their premises as well.
"Unfortunately, some of the customers brought their cards in and they were playing," replied Mr Singh.
The prosecutor said he contested the lawyer's characterisation of the closure of the front entrance, saying it is clear that patrons continued to enter the establishment after 10.30pm.
"Investigations reveal that there were still people proceeding to enter the restaurant after 10.40pm," said the judge.
"That could be partly for the consumption of food, your honour, we don't know if they are there for food or drinks," answered Mr Singh.
The judge said the company should not have allowed customers in if they could not control their alcohol consumption. She noted also that the company had committed the offence of allowing customers to play cards on its premises after they were already charged for the alcohol offence.
The company could have been fined up to S$10,000 for breaking a COVID-10 regulation.
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Darts Buddy had closed its front roller shutters, but police and safe distancing ambassadors saw customers entering from the back.
A representative for the bar pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching a COVID-19 control order, by allowing consumption of liquor at its premises at 28 Beatty Road past 10.30pm.
A second charge of allowing customers to play poker cards on its premises on another occasion was taken into consideration.
The court heard that a group of police and safe-distancing officers were on duty on Jan 29 this year when they came across the restaurant.
They noticed that the front entrance was closed, with the roller shutters down to give the impression that the bar was shut, but people continued to enter the premises via the back.
When the officers entered Darts Buddy, they found at least 35 people inside. Several of them were consuming alcohol and there were at least two beer towers that were more than half full.
As a permitted enterprise, Darts Buddy was supposed to take reasonable steps to ensure COVID-19 measures were complied with, including that liquor consumption was to stop after 10.30pm.
Instead, the restaurant remained open to increase its sales, said the prosecutor.
This is the company's first offence, but the prosecutor called for a fine of between S$4,500 and S$5,000 as there was an attempt to avoid detection and a crowd size of more than 30 customers.
In mitigation, lawyer Dhanwant Singh asked for a S$4,000 fine instead. He said that the closing of the front shutters was not "really" an aggravating factor.
He said there was an incident where a highly intoxicated customer insisted on entering the premises around 10.30pm, so the bar started a policy of closing the front shutters at 10.30pm to prevent incoming customers.
"Because they are operating food as well, so they are allowed to operate until 12, but only consumption of liquor has to stop at 10.30pm," said Mr Singh.
The judge interjected to point out that the company had allowed customers to play poker cards at 9pm on their premises as well.
"Unfortunately, some of the customers brought their cards in and they were playing," replied Mr Singh.
The prosecutor said he contested the lawyer's characterisation of the closure of the front entrance, saying it is clear that patrons continued to enter the establishment after 10.30pm.
"Investigations reveal that there were still people proceeding to enter the restaurant after 10.40pm," said the judge.
"That could be partly for the consumption of food, your honour, we don't know if they are there for food or drinks," answered Mr Singh.
The judge said the company should not have allowed customers in if they could not control their alcohol consumption. She noted also that the company had committed the offence of allowing customers to play cards on its premises after they were already charged for the alcohol offence.
The company could have been fined up to S$10,000 for breaking a COVID-10 regulation.
Continue reading...