Man, 52, jailed for vandalising court facility, hurting woman

SINGAPORE — The day after he failed to attend a pre-trial conference for a series of offences, Ho Bak Choon was hauled to the State Courts under a warrant of arrest. There, he used a red marker to scrawl Chinese characters on the walls of the pre-trial conference centre, causing another charge to be levelled against him for mischief.

On Monday (Oct 24), the 52-year-old, who is unemployed, was sentenced to 20 weeks’ jail for two counts of mischief and one count of slapping a 41-year-old woman, pulling her hair and slamming her head against the side of a stationary lorry.

A district court heard that Ho was cycling along a footpath near Block 53, Sims Place, on Dec 4 last year when he got upset that Ms Chiang Chong Kwee and her colleague were in his way. He hurled vulgarities in Hokkien at Ms Chiang, who then turned around and asked what he wanted.

Ho then attacked Ms Chiang and ended up hitting her head against the side of a lorry parked nearby. After she fell, he continued assaulting her. When several passers-by came to restrain him, he tried to ride away on his bicycle.

Ms Chiang suffered bruises on her face and abrasions over her left forearm. On May 31, Ho was charged with voluntarily causing hurt and one count of verbally abusing a public servant (a police officer).

When he did not attend a pre-trial conference scheduled on July 19 in relation to these charges, a warrant was issued to arrest him. While at the State Courts the day after at about 12.50pm, Ho entered the pre-trial conference centre — where lawyers hold discussions with their clients — which was unlocked.

He ventured into the video-link room and used a red marker to scrawl Chinese characters denoting the name of a secret society, Ang Soon Tong, on the wall and a door. He also threw a cup and a cigarette butt on the floor.

Ho later told investigators that he did that because he was “bored” and had “nothing to do”.

Further investigations found that Ho had vandalised bridges near St Andrew’s Junior School and along a park connector in Potong Pasir. He struck out some words on a signage belonging to national water agency PUB and replaced them with expletives, for instance.

Ho was diagnosed with “major neurocognitive disorder” secondary to a traumatic brain injury in 2004, but there was no suggestion that this condition had deprived him of control over his actions, the prosecution said. In 2007, he was jailed for damaging public property, the court heard.

District Judge Lim Keng Yeow said that a deterrent sentence must be imposed, given Ho’s “aggressive and senseless” attack on Ms Chiang. He also said that Ho’s acts of mischief were “particularly aggravated”, and the offensive content of what he had written demonstrated “disturbing defiance of law and order”.

“By then, Ho had already been charged with other offences. (One would have) expected him to be far more circumspect in his conduct,” District Judge Lim said.