SINGAPORE: A 52-year-old man who vandalised a court room in July was sentenced to 20 weeks’ jail on Monday (Oct 24).
Ho Bak Choon pleaded guilty to three charges in all, two for mischief and one for assaulting a 41-year-old woman in December 2015 along a footpath.
Ho had been on bail facing the assault charge when he scrawled the name of a secret society on the door and wall of a meeting room at the State Courts. “You would expect him to be far more circumspect in his conduct," the judge said on Monday, noting that Ho had shown “disturbing defiance” when he vandalised the room.
The court heard that Ho attacked the woman on Dec 4 2015, upset that she and her colleague were “in his way”. He wanted to ride his bicycle on the footpath, and shouted expletives at the woman and her friend who were walking in front of him.
Ho charged at the victim and slapped her several times, pulled her hair and slammed her head against the side of a lorry parked nearby. She fell and he continued to hit her. He was pulled off by passers-by who restrained him when he tried to flee on his bicycle. He was arrested at the scene.
For the offence, Ho was in court on Jul 20 to attend a pre-trial conference when he found himself alone in the pre-trial conference centre and decided to vandalise the room because he had “nothing to do” and was “bored”. He also threw a paper cup on the floor and smoked a cigarette in the room before leaving.
A State Courts employee discovered the graffiti soon after and alerted security officers. Ho’s identity was quickly established and he was arrested when he returned to the State Courts hours later.
After his arrest, an earlier case of graffiti was traced to him – Ho had admitted to vandalising a PUB sign with an expletive and scrawling the name of the same secret society on a bridge along a park connector near Block 144 Potong Pasir.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Ee Kuan described the unprovoked assault on the 41-year-old woman as “senseless”. As for the acts of vandalism, DPP Tan pointed out that "the content of the graffiti itself evinced disrespect for a defiance of law and order."
Although Ho has been diagnosed with major neurocognitive disorder due to traumatic brain injury that impairs his “verbal comprehension, verbal reasoning, verbal fluency and judgement”, the disorder does not deprive him of control over his actions, the DPP said.
In mitigation, Ho simply said he hoped the judge would be lenient with him.
For mischief, Ho could have been jailed for up to one year and fined. For voluntarily causing hurt, he could have faced up to two years’ jail and a fine of up to S$5,000.
Ho Bak Choon pleaded guilty to three charges in all, two for mischief and one for assaulting a 41-year-old woman in December 2015 along a footpath.
Ho had been on bail facing the assault charge when he scrawled the name of a secret society on the door and wall of a meeting room at the State Courts. “You would expect him to be far more circumspect in his conduct," the judge said on Monday, noting that Ho had shown “disturbing defiance” when he vandalised the room.
The court heard that Ho attacked the woman on Dec 4 2015, upset that she and her colleague were “in his way”. He wanted to ride his bicycle on the footpath, and shouted expletives at the woman and her friend who were walking in front of him.
Ho charged at the victim and slapped her several times, pulled her hair and slammed her head against the side of a lorry parked nearby. She fell and he continued to hit her. He was pulled off by passers-by who restrained him when he tried to flee on his bicycle. He was arrested at the scene.
For the offence, Ho was in court on Jul 20 to attend a pre-trial conference when he found himself alone in the pre-trial conference centre and decided to vandalise the room because he had “nothing to do” and was “bored”. He also threw a paper cup on the floor and smoked a cigarette in the room before leaving.
A State Courts employee discovered the graffiti soon after and alerted security officers. Ho’s identity was quickly established and he was arrested when he returned to the State Courts hours later.
After his arrest, an earlier case of graffiti was traced to him – Ho had admitted to vandalising a PUB sign with an expletive and scrawling the name of the same secret society on a bridge along a park connector near Block 144 Potong Pasir.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Ee Kuan described the unprovoked assault on the 41-year-old woman as “senseless”. As for the acts of vandalism, DPP Tan pointed out that "the content of the graffiti itself evinced disrespect for a defiance of law and order."
Although Ho has been diagnosed with major neurocognitive disorder due to traumatic brain injury that impairs his “verbal comprehension, verbal reasoning, verbal fluency and judgement”, the disorder does not deprive him of control over his actions, the DPP said.
In mitigation, Ho simply said he hoped the judge would be lenient with him.
For mischief, Ho could have been jailed for up to one year and fined. For voluntarily causing hurt, he could have faced up to two years’ jail and a fine of up to S$5,000.
