2 months' jail for construction worker who smashed 8 cars in 'senseless drunken rampage'

SINGAPORE — Upset about the arguments he had with his wife, a drunk Nguyen Duc Thien, 34, decided to vent his frustration by smashing eight parked cars in Kaki Bukit with a metal pole, causing more than S$23,000 worth of damages.

On Wednesday (Oct 19), the Vietnamese national was sentenced to two months' imprisonment and fined S$2,000 after pleading guilty to two charges of mischief and one charge of flouting Covid-19 rules. Six other charges were taken into consideration.

The court heard that at around 11pm on Aug 21 last year, Nguyen and six other Vietnamese men met for drinks at Premier@Kaki Bukit, an industrial building as it was one of the men's birthday.

Nguyen was working as a construction worker then.

They drank several cans of beer and chatted until about 3am the next morning, which ran afoul of Covid-19 safe management measures at the time which limited social group sizes to a maximum of five people.

At about 5am, Nguyen went to the open car park located on the seventh floor of the building.

He was intoxicated and walking unsteadily at this point. 

FRUSTRATED OVER QUARREL WITH WIFE

Frustrated that he had been quarrelling with his wife, who was in Vietnam, he decided to damage the cars in the car park in order to feel better.

Court documents did not state what the couple was quarrelling about. 

Some of these cars were brand new and had no vehicle registration numbers, while others were parked at the open car park awaiting repairs or were to be rented out.

Around 5.16am, Nguyen started hitting a blue Toyota Corolla sedan with his hands. 

He also attempted to lift one of the concrete backstops from an empty parking lot next to it but failed. 

After that, he grabbed two metal poles and threw one at the blue Toyota. He used the other one to hit the blue Toyota and seven other vehicles repeatedly. 

These include a Volkswagen Scirocco hatchback and a Honda Shuttle station wagon. 

The court heard that the total cost of repairs for all eight vehicles was S$23,460. 

Five of the cars were owned by Shun Heng Auto Enterprise while the blue Toyota was owned by ST Automobile.

Addressing the court through a court interpreter, Nguyen said in mitigation plea: “I am very sorry. I was not able to control my behaviour and feelings, that’s why I committed such an offence.” 

District Judge Lim Tse Haw said that Nguyen had gone on “a senseless drunken rampage” damaging a total of eight cars. 

There was also substantial damage amounting to over S$20,000 and no restitution was made, said District Judge Lim.

It is not known if the other men Nguyen was with were charged for breaching Covid-19 rules. 

Anyone convicted of mischief can be fined or jailed up to two years, or both.

Those convicted of breaking laws that safeguard the public against Covid-19 can be jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$10,000, or both.