Man faces 11 harassment charges over alleged e-mails insulting police

SINGAPORE – A man was handed 11 harassment charges on Aug 26 after he allegedly sent multiple e-mails to police officers containing insulting remarks.

Wong Yew Soon, 47, is said to have committed the offences between March and May because he was dissatisfied with his interactions with the police.

Details of his complaint were not disclosed in court documents.

The Singaporean is accused of sending most of the e-mails to a male superintendent who had been reviewing his complaint.

On March 14, Wong allegedly e-mailed the officer and referred to him as “K9 unit” – a police tactical unit that works with trained dogs.

Eleven days later, he allegedly sent another e-mail to the superintendent, copying seven of the latter’s colleagues. Court documents described the colleagues as senior officers.

Among other things, Wong purportedly called the officers “the ultimate disgrace”.

He also accused them of “lying to the public to protect their own staff”.

In several e-mails sent to the superintendent between April 2 and May 16, Wong allegedly made other disparaging remarks.

These include accusing the police of “institutional cowardice” and describing the leadership of the police and the Ministry of Home Affairs as “overpaid, spineless bureaucrats who have completely abandoned basic human decency”.

He also allegedly likened the police to dogs and asked for a man to be sent to his home to “mop every square inch of his floor”.

One of the e-mails, sent on April 9, was allegedly copied to the officer’s seven colleagues.

Besides the superintendent, Wong is also accused of targeting a female management executive officer who had been reviewing his complaint.

He allegedly e-mailed her twice on March 23.

Among other things, he purportedly described her previous e-mails as “scripted excuses”.

Wong is expected to plead guilty in October.

For each harassment charge, he can be jailed for up to a year, fined up to $5,000 or both.

Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.