Man, 60, charged with sticking toothpicks in bus seats

SINGAPORE  — A 60-year-old man who allegedly stuck toothpicks into the seats of public buses has been charged with committing public mischief.

Lim Lye Seng was in court on Tuesday (Sept 19) to face four charges related to the alleged offence on four occasions this year.  .

The most recent one took place at about 6:20am on Aug 4, where he allegedly perforated a bus seat on SBS Transit bus service 123M with three toothpicks, with the sharp ends sticking upwards. 

The bus was traveling along Lower Delta Road around that time, the court heard.

Lim was accused of committing similar acts of mischief on the same bus service on three other occasions in July, including one on July 22. It is unclear if any passenger was hurt by the toothpicks but the total damages caused amounted to about S$1,300.

Photos of the toothpicks-ridden bus seat began circulating online in July. The police said in an earlier press release that they identified the suspect after extensive investigations and studying related CCTV footage.

Lim, who was unrepresented on Tuesday, told the court he planned to plead guilty and would be engaging a lawyer to help with his mitigation.

The prosecution said they would be proceeding on the first two charges, while the other two would be taken into consideration for sentencing.

Lim will return to the court on Sept 27. For each count of committing mischief, he could be jailed up to a year, or fined or both.