"PoThePanda" found guilty of threatening PM Lee via private Facebook messages
Photo: The Straits Times, Reuters
Tuesday, Oct 6, 2015
SINGAPORE - A 33-year-old man has been convicted of criminal intimidation on Tuesday (Oct 6), after he sent four identical threatening messages to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong via Facebook, local media reported.
Tan Yeong Hong also pleaded guilty to two counts of hurting two policemen.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that Tan became frustrated after attending a Meet the People's Session (MPS) in PM Lee's Ang Mo Kio ward on Jun 24 only to find that the PM would not be there.
The report added that Tan wanted to pass PM Lee an article he had typed but had to pass the letter to a grassroots leader instead.
According to CNA, Tan said he had brought a hammer to the MPS, but claimed he did not have any intention of using it.
Tan wrote in his four threatening messages: "Eh, you challenged me to visit your MPS but you are not here. I will find and stage an attack on you when I have information on your public appearances (sic) . You know who I am".
He also left his NRIC number and handphone number in the messages.
According to the report, Tan claimed he was prompted to do so by "someone with a hidden audio and surveillance device planted in my house". He added that the same people had asked him to look for PM Lee when he made a public appearance. Despite his claims, Tan said he had not seen the surveillance device before.
On Jun 25, a senior manager of the Online Communications Unit of the Prime Minister's Office, which manages Mr Lee's social media accounts, lodged a police report about the four messages.
When police officers approached him at Hougang Avenue 1 at about 7.55pm the same day, Tan refused to provide his identity and turned hostile.
He punched a policeman and elbowed another in the face but was subsequently arrested.
CNA reported that upon searching his home, police found assorted dangerous weapons including a hammer, two choppers and several knives. A list of PM's upcoming public appearances was also found.
According to CNA, Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Chong said that psychiatric reports show that Tan suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, which had been left untreated at the time of his offences.
The psychiatric report stated that the illness played "a large contributory role in (his) offending behaviour". However, it concluded that Tan was not found to be of unsound mind and is still fit to plead.
[email protected]
