A man caught smoking in the street without a mask has been sentenced by a Macau court to five months in jail, suspended for two years, on the condition that he pays a fine of MOP$10,000 within one month.
The terms of the suspended sentence require the man to be of good behavior for the two years, otherwise the suspension can be revoked and the man would be sent to prison to serve the five month sentence.
According to the Unitary Police Service (SPU), the punishment is enforceable under Paragraph 4, Article 30 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Law.
The man was stopped by police officers around 7:10pm on Tuesday 12 July at Fu Van Courtyard in Macau and was not wearing a mask.
This is the first time a person has been charged for not wearing a mask since Macau’s lockdown began on 11 July.
“The case was dealt with by the court on a summary procedure because the maximum sentence is under three years and the conditions are such that summary procedures can be used,” said Cheung Kin-yan, head of the Police Liaison and Public Relations Division at the Police Headquarters.
“Today, police officers have issued 588 warnings, and between [midnight on the morning of] 11 July and 3pm today (13 July), there were a total of 19 prosecutions involving breaches of preventive measures.”
All courts in Macau are closed from 11 to 15 July but remain available to handle so-called urgent cases, including summary proceedings.
As reported by IAG earlier this week, activities now considered criminal offences under Macau’s week-long COVID-19 lockdown include dog walking, jogging and sitting in parks.
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