Man gets jail for insulting religious beliefs by leaving pork with offensive note outside woman’s flat

At about 5.35am on Mar 15 this year, Goh went to the victim’s flat. He placed the pork on the doorstep and the piece of the paper on the gate.

The prosecution said this act insulted the religious beliefs of the 37-year-old female victim.

Pork is expressly prohibited according to the Quran and regarded as impure and unclean, said the prosecutor.

At about 3pm that same day, the victim opened the door to  her unit and discovered the pork. She also found the piece of paper and got her son to pick it up.

The victim read the offensive words, along with her husband and her son. She then called the police, who attended the scene and took photos of the offending items.

IMH ASSESSMENT

Goh was arrested and assessed at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).

He was found to have treatment-resistant schizophrenia, with residual auditory hallucinations and anxious distress.

His psychiatric conditions had contributed to his offending, but the acts were carried out with careful pre-planning, and he was “very aware of the wrongfulness of his conduct”, court documents stated.

He was certified to be of sound mind and capable of making his defence.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Matthew Choo sought four to four-and-a-half months’ jail for Goh, saying that Singapore’s society is built upon the bonds of trust and mutual respect between communities of different faiths.

“These bonds are hard-won and must be jealously guarded,” he said.

Goh’s lawyer, Mr Mark Yeo, sought four to six weeks’ jail instead.

He did not dispute that fact that religious harmony in Singapore has been hard-won.

However, Mr Yeo noted Goh’s schizophrenia and the fact that the voice had told him to commit the offending act.

“It was a single note, a single piece of meat at a single household.”

In highlighting the single victim, Mr Yeo compared the case to that of Bill Tan Keng Hwee, who received 15 months’ jail in May for sending pork slices to seven mosques.

District Judge Kamala Ponnampalam said the potential for religious enmity and hatred arising from Goh’s acts was significant.

She noted also that the offence was observed not just by the victim’s family but by her neighbour.

However, she acknowledged Goh’s psychiatric condition and gave it “due mitigating weight”.

For knowingly insulting a person’s religious beliefs, he could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, or both.