Actor Terence Cao fined over 13-person birthday party held during COVID-19 pandemic

SINGAPORE: Mediacorp actor and food business owner Terence Cao was fined S$3,500 on Tuesday (May 25) over a 13-person birthday party held at his condominium unit during the COVID-19 pandemic, when social gatherings were limited.

Cao, whose real name is Terence Choa Kwok Fai, pleaded guilty to one charge of permitting 12 guests who were not members of his household to enter his home for a non-permitted purpose.

The court heard that Cao, 53, had planned a social gathering in his home at Daisy Road on Oct 2, 2020 to celebrate his birthday, as well as the birthdays of fellow actors Shane Pow and Jeffrey Xu, when the number of guests was capped at five.

He had invited five guests initially: Pow, Xu, co-accused Lance Lim, as well as artistes Benjamin Heng and Jeremy Chan.

READ: COVID-19: Ex-magazine editor fined for attending 13-person birthday party at Terence Cao's condo unit

However, Lim invited more people including DJ Sonia Chew, actress Julie Tan Shaoyin and two marketing managers. One of the marketing managers in turn invited actress Dawn Yeoh.

Pow, who is also facing a separate drink-driving charge, invited part-time model and actress Valnice Yek without knowing more guests were expected.

Several other friends of Cao's turned up uninvited at his home to surprise him, including sales manager Tan Jun Chuan and marketing manager Debbie Lu Shuyi.

Throughout the gathering, the guests chatted, ate and drank without masks on, knowing that it was against the law to gather in a group of more than five people when Singapore was in Phase 2 of its reopening.

At 11.30pm on Oct 2, 2020, all those present held a birthday cake-cutting ceremony and took group photos. Xu posted one of these pictures on his Instagram Stories page, before the guests began leaving, with the last guests leaving by 4am.

READ: Jeffrey Xu, Shane Pow, Terence Cao, Sonia Chew apologise for breaking social distancing rules

The prosecutor asked for a fine of S$3,500, flagging Cao's role as the host of the celebration and the need to send a deterrent message to homeowners to take care not to allow guests in beyond the legal limit.

Cao's lawyer S S Dhillon asked for a fine of S$2,000, saying Cao is sincerely remorseful for committing the offence and wishes he had been more prudent on hindsight and confined his celebrations to the allowed number of guests.

A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION TRANSFORMED INTO NIGHTMARISH PROPORTIONS: DEFENCE

"His birthday celebration was supposed to be a joyous occasion, but it transformed into nightmarish proportions," said Mr Dhillon in his mitigation plea.

"Indeed, the accused did not anticipate that his birthday celebration would attract negative publicity which has caused him emotional agony and anguish."

He said Cao had not planned a social gathering for that many people, and that the gathering was mainly for Mediacorp artistes who were good friends and wanted to surprise each other "out of goodwill".

Mr Dhillon said his client was caught between being "legally wrong and morally incorrect", adding that it would be morally or ethically "wrong" for Cao not to let his friends in for his birthday.

"His heart couldn't turn them away," he said.

At this, the prosecutor said it cannot be correct to imply that the COVID-19 regulations are somehow immoral or unethical in any way.

"The choice presented before the accused when the guests came is to decide, do I let them in? Or do I turn them away," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Norman Yew.

"There are laws to abide by, laws to save lives. That's the choice he has to make. Unfortunately he chose to break the COVID-19 laws, not by accident ... At any moment, he could've told his guests 'oh no, please leave'. That didn't happen."

LAWYER HIGHLIGHTS HIS CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS

The defence lawyer added that Cao produced seven episodes of a mini-series called "Frontline Heroes" in September 2020 to highlight the struggles and bravery of the frontline essential workers during the pandemic, as a tribute to them.

He also highlighted Cao's charitable contributions over the years, including more than 10 years' participation in President's Star charities. 

Mr Dhillon said Cao has a contract with Mediacorp but does not receive a salary from the company, instead starting his own business Sibay Shiok in August 2020 to support himself and his 12-year-old daughter.

He said this was a one-off incident out of line with his character and that Cao will never allow this to happen again, after seeing the pain caused to his family.

The arrest, police investigations and court attendances have "completely shell-shocked" Cao, said his lawyer, and he will "never dare to be anything less than a law-abiding citizen henceforth".

The judge agreed that Cao had higher culpability than Lim and reminded all homeowners of the law.

Cao could have been jailed up to six months, fined up to S$10,000 or both for breaking a COVID-19 regulation.

Lim was fined S$3,000 last week, while the other 11 guests were each given fines of S$300 with authorities explaining that they had taken their individual level of culpability into account in issuing them fines.

An advisory was also issued to the management of Cao's condominium to remind them to ensure compliance with safe management measures.