Man who left pork with offensive note outside woman's home given 4-month jail sentence for insulting religious beliefs
A man stands before a judge in a courtroom (for illustration purposes only)
SINGAPORE: On Tuesday (Oct 6), Daniel Goh, who had placed a piece of pork along with an offensive note outside the home of a Muslim woman, was sentenced to four months in jail.
Goh, a 37-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty to one charge of insulting religious beliefs under the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act for the incident that occurred on Mar 15 of this year.
District Judge Kamala Ponnampalam acknowledged Goh’s mental health problems. An assessment from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) showed that he suffers from treatment-resistant schizophrenia, with residual auditory hallucinations and anxious distress, according to reporting from CNA.
The judge said that his psychiatric condition was given due mitigating weight, as she noted that what Goh had done carried the potential for arousing religious enmity and hatred.
The incident
In September of last year, Goh began to have dreams of hearing a voice that told him he needed to get arrested. If he failed to do so, a tragedy such as death would befall his family.
The court heard that before the incident occurred, the voice told him to place a piece of pork outside the residence of a Muslim person, together with an offensive note concerning their religion.
Goh then went to an HDB block in Tampines to determine where Muslim people lived, and did so when he saw two flats where there was Islamic calligraphy displayed.
After finding the flats, he went to a grocery and bought a piece of pork, and then wrote out the note. He went to one of the flats at around 5:35 a.m. on March 15, and put the note on the door and the pork in front of it.
The homeowner, a 37-year-old Muslim woman, found the pork at around 3:00 p.m. that day. After she read the offensive words on the note, she filed a police report, leading to Goh’s arrest.
Newsletter
Get updates straight to your inbox
According to court documents, Goh was highly aware of how wrong his actions were and had deliberately planned to carry them out. CNA report added that he had been certified as being of sound mind as well as capable of making his defence.
The prosecutor on the case asked for a jail sentence of four and a half months, citing the importance of maintaining peace and harmony among Singapore’s different faith communities. /TISG
Read also: Singapore's racial and religious harmony soars to new heights – Is unity its secret to success?