SINGAPORE — While intoxicated, a bartender trespassed on his friend’s condominium premises and caused a ruckus, including yelling profanities at two police officers.
Tertius Wharton, 28, was ordered to pay a S$4,000 fine on Thursday (March 19) for his actions.
The Briton pleaded guilty to two charges of being drunk in a public place and verbally abusing a public servant, with another similar charge taken into consideration for sentencing.
On his Facebook account, it is stated that he manages the Rogue Trader cocktail bar in Little India.
The court heard that the incident happened in the evening of July 29 last year. Wharton had gone to Paterson Residence, located in the Orchard Road area, and told a security officer that he wanted to visit his friend there.
When another security guard went over and asked which unit he was visiting, he gave two invalid unit numbers. The guard told him that he had to leave the condominium premises.
At this point, Wharton threatened to jump into the condominium’s fountain at the main gate. The guards then decided to call the police, saying: “Ang moh (Caucasian) drunk guy using vulgarity. He seems violent.”
While waiting for the police to arrive, Wharton bumped into and pushed one of the guards, touched him on the crotch and used abusive language on him.
At about 11pm, a policeman arrived and noticed that Wharton reeked strongly of alcohol and was shouting and acting in an uncooperative manner. He was then arrested.
A Health Sciences Authority analyst found that he had 121 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. In comparison, the legal alcohol limit for driving is 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres.
As the police officer drove Wharton to the Tanglin Police Station in a police vehicle, Wharton verbally abused him with vulgar language. Court documents showed that shortly before this, he did the same with another police officer.
In mitigation, Wharton — who did not have a lawyer — said that he was “deeply sorry” for his actions.
“It’s not a manner I’m happy to conduct myself in. My apologies for any inconvenience or damage to any of the parties involved,” he said.
For being drunk and causing annoyance in a public place, he could have been fined up to S$1,000, jailed up to six months, or both.
For using abusive language on a public servant, he could have been fined up to S$5,000, jailed up to a year, or both.
