We’ve been taught from young that the 999 police hotline is strictly reserved for emergencies. But not to serial prank caller Mr Gucharan Singh, who has been making prank calls to the police since 2000.
But his days of dialling 999 are over, since the 61-year-old cleaner was sentenced to 3 years in jail on Thursday (6 Sept).
Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time he’s been jailed for making prank calls. But more on that later. First, the details of his latest offence.
On 10 Jun, Mr Singh had a couple of beers and called the police using a public phone in Chai Chee. He called the emergency operator on the line “stupid” and when the operator asked Mr Singh what he was reporting, he said,
Immigration… and the … the permit all issuing of Malaysian one… all these corruption one.
Mr Singh then threatened to “put one dynamite to the immigration house”, possibly referring to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority headquarters.
In that same call, Mr Singh added,
You are the police emergency… you should find out everything in the world what’s happening… and question everything… all you should have find out… what a f***ked up police emergency you are.
Later that night, Singh called the police hotline once again, and taunted the phone operator by saying,
You are scared to see me… you got balls to see me not.
The police were alerted to the incident and traced Mr Singh’s location. Officers found him and arrested him at Blk 804, Chai Chee Road, reportedly while he was making another nuisance call.
Mr Singh was later released on bail but couldn’t keep his itchy fingers away from dialling 999 for long. On 19 Jun, he was back at it, dialling the police 15 times that day.
This time, he was less dramatic and didn’t report any emergency.
Because he had committed the offence while on remission, the judge added a 66-day jail term to his 3-year sentence.
Mr Singh’s latest conviction comes after similar ones in 2008 and in 2016. In the former, he was sentenced to 5-year corrective training. And 2 years ago, he was jailed 2 years.
The Deputy Public Prosecutor blames alcohol for Mr Singh’s actions. Still, she says, there were resources he could have tapped on to solve the problem.
In 2013, Mr Singh was seen by the National Addictions Management Service (NAMS) for about 8 months, during which he made significant progress. The police prank caller apologised in court and and asked for leniency, promising that he would undergo treatment again.
However, the judge remained firm in his decision to jail the man, saying,
Just thinking about it and making promises in court does not cut it, you must take action.
We wish Mr Singh all the best in his rehabilitation process.
Remember, kids. Dialling 999 does not pay.
Featured image from VanillaSeven’ Photography and Singapore Police Force.
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