SINGAPORE: A man who has been remanded for about two weeks after being charged with making a bomb threat on a Singapore Airlines flight has hired a lawyer.
The case for La Andy Hien Duc, 37, was heard in the State Courts on Thursday (Oct 13). One of his two charges was amended, and his newly hired lawyer Johannes Hadi asked for permission to see his client.
He also asked for permission for embassy staff to see the American.
The prosecution asked for no bail to be offered and did not object to the defence lawyer’s requests. The judge gave the orders accordingly.
The accused was first charged in court on Sep 29 over the incident that occurred on flight SQ33 from San Francisco to Singapore on Sep 28.
The first charge was for voluntarily causing hurt to a man by slapping his cheeks, while the second was for using threatening words by stating there is a bomb on the flight, which was heard by the man he allegedly slapped.
On Thursday, the second charge was amended to include two other witnesses who heard him say there was a bomb on the flight.
After the alleged bomb threat, the police were alerted and the plane landed safely at Changi Airport under the escort of Republic of Singapore Air Force fighter jets.
Officers from the Airport Police Division and Special Operations Command’s K-9 Unit, as well as the Singapore Armed Forces’ Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives Defence Group, were mobilised to investigate the threat, which turned out to be false.
On Thursday, the prosecutor said she had received a report from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) on Monday. The accused had been remanded at IMH for psychiatric observation at the last mention.
She asked for a two-week adjournment to finalise the charges, and said the prosecution was waiting for the final charging position from the police.
The case will be heard again on Oct 27.
If convicted of voluntarily causing hurt, he could be jailed for up to three years, fined up to S$5,000, or both.
For making a threat causing alarm, he could be fined up to S$5,000.