Deaf-mute teen who stole bus for joyride sentenced to probation

SINGAPORE — He stole a private bus from an industrial park and took it for a joyride, but the 17-year-old teenager who is deaf and mute will be given a second chance.

Muhammad Salahuddin Omar was convicted of three charges: theft of a motor vehicle, driving below the age of 18 and driving without insurance.

The Community Court sentenced him to 24 months’ probation with a number of conditions, such as staying indoors from 10pm to 5.30am and serving 130 community service hours. He also cannot drive or apply for a driving licence during the probation period.

Delivering the sentence today (July 8), District Judge Mathew Joseph said it is important to determine the “underlying root cause” so that Salahuddin does not reoffend in future.

He noted that Salahuddin has had hearing impairment since birth and has lost his hearing aids several times. “(Due to the) lack of hearing aids….(Salahuddin has been) trapped in (his) prison from birth,” said the judge.

Salahuddin’s father, who was present during the hearing, told the court that he can only communicate with his son 20 per cent of the time using sign language. To communicate better with Salahuddin, the judge said his father has to “improve at a higher level” of learning sign language.

The judge also noted that Salahuddin has a fascination with buses and wants to further his studies in the Institute of Technical Education College Central after completing his N-levels this year.

According to court documents, an employee of the AZ Bus company discovered that a bus — valued at about S$200,000 — was missing from Woodlands Industrial Park E8 on March 8.

Mr Toh Hoe Kok, who was the operations executive at that time, tracked the location of the bus through a Global Positioning System linked to his handphone.

Mr Toh discovered the bus to be along Kian Teck Road and asked one of his employees to follow the bus. His employee managed to catch sight of it but told Mr Toh that the driver did not stop when approached.

Mr Toh continued to monitor the location of the bus using his handphone, and saw it moving along the Ayer Rajah Expressway, Jurong Town Hall Road, Boon Lay Way and Jurong Pier Road. He then got into his own vehicle to go after the bus and spotted it while he was reaching Bukit Batok Avenue 6. He stopped the bus by driving and stopping in front of it.

Investigations revealed that about a year ago, Salahuddin’s father had noticed that his son was interested in public transportation and would attend public transportation-related exhibitions with his elder brother. He would also play computer games related to buses.

He had stolen the vehicle for fun, by pressing the emergency exit button to board the bus, and found the bus key next to the driver’s seat. He drove around for about 45 minutes before reaching the Bukit Batok Central area where he was stopped by Mr Toh.

A probation officer who took the stand during the hearing recommended Salahuddin be engaged in activities catered to the deaf community. She also recommended his parents to attending programmes such as basic sign language courses.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhou Yihong asked the court to disallow Salahuddin to drive and apply for a driving license for all classes of vehicles during the probation period.

She pointed out that Salahuddin has shown “brazen disregard for the law” when he committed the offences, but noted that no one was hurt.

Salahuddin’s parents, who were present in court declined to speak to the media, after the hearing.