Man gets jail for insulting religious beliefs by leaving pork with offensive note outside woman's flat - CNA

The 37-year-old man suffered from treatment-resistant schizophrenia and claimed a voice told him to place the pork and note outside the flat so he could be arrested.

Daniel Goh arrives at the State Courts on Oct 6, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Ili Mansor)

This audio is generated by an AI tool.

Lydia Lam 06 Oct 2026 05:32PM Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Read a summary of this article on FAST. Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST SINGAPORE: A man who left a piece of pork with an offensive note outside a Muslim woman's flat was sentenced to four months' jail on Tuesday (Oct 6) for insulting religious beliefs.

Daniel Goh, 37, suffers from treatment-resistant schizophrenia which contributed to the offence, as he heard a voice telling him to get arrested to avoid something bad happening to his family.

However, despite his psychiatric condition, he had acted with planning and premeditation, the court heard.

Goh, a Singaporean, pleaded guilty to one charge of insulting religious beliefs under the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act.

The court heard that Goh claimed to have dreams from September 2025, in which an unknown male voice said he had to do something to get himself arrested.

Otherwise, something bad would happen, such as the death of his family members, the voice had told him.

Sometime before March 2026, Goh said the voice told him to commit an offence by placing an offensive note about Islam and a piece of pork in front of a Muslim person's home.

Goh decided to act on his dream and went to a block of flats in Tampines to identify units where Muslims lived.

He looked for units with Islamic calligraphy displayed outside, and found two of them.

He took photos of the flats to remember where they were so he could return to carry out his plan.

He went to a supermarket, bought a piece of pork and wrote the offensive words on a piece of paper.

At about 5.35am on Mar 15 this year, Goh went to the victim's flat. He placed the pork on the doorstep and the piece of the paper on the gate.

The prosecution said this act insulted the religious beliefs of the 37-year-old female victim.

Pork is expressly prohibited according to the Quran and regarded as impure and unclean, said the prosecutor.

At about 3pm that same day, the victim opened the door to  her unit and discovered the pork. She also found the piece of paper and got her son to pick it up.

The victim read the offensive words, along with her husband and her son. She then called the police, who attended the scene and took photos of the offending items.

Goh was arrested and assessed at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).

He was found to have treatment-resistant schizophrenia, with residual auditory hallucinations and anxious distress.

His psychiatric conditions had contributed to his offending, but the acts were carried out with careful pre-planning, and he was "very aware of the wrongfulness of his conduct", court documents stated.

He was certified to be of sound mind and capable of making his defence.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Matthew Choo sought four to four-and-a-half months' jail for Goh, saying that Singapore's society is built upon the bonds of trust and mutual respect between communities of different faiths.

"These bonds are hard-won and must be jealously guarded," he said.

Goh's lawyer, Mr Mark Yeo, sought four to six weeks' jail instead.

He did not dispute that fact that religious harmony in Singapore has been hard-won.

However, Mr Yeo noted Goh's schizophrenia and the fact that the voice had told him to commit the offending act.

"It was a single note, a single piece of meat at a single household."

In highlighting the single victim, Mr Yeo compared the case to that of Bill Tan Keng Hwee, who received 15 months' jail in May for sending pork slices to seven mosques.

District Judge Kamala Ponnampalam said the potential for religious enmity and hatred arising from Goh's acts was significant.

She noted also that the offence was observed not just by the victim's family but by her neighbour.

However, she acknowledged Goh's psychiatric condition and gave it "due mitigating weight".

For knowingly insulting a person's religious beliefs, he could have been jailed for up to five years, fined, or both.