5 weeks’ jail for serial ‘car scratcher’ in Tampines who caused S$11,000 in damages

SINGAPORE — Ee Tian Chon, 66, is going behind bars again after he kept scratching cars, using a beer bottle cap and other objects.

The man, who told the court he did that to relieve stress, caused around S$11,000 worth of damages with his habit, and was sentenced to five weeks’ jail on Tuesday (Feb 4).

He had been jailed before for similar crimes.

For the latest offences, he had pleaded guilty to three charges of mischief. Four other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Towards the end of last year, Ee defaced seven cars that belonged to his neighbours living around Tampines.

One car, a Ssangyong Tivoli, belonged to a 34-year-old woman and Ee used a beer bottle cap to scratch it on several occasions.

On Oct 22, the woman found a 10cm-long scratch mark at the back of her car and another that stretched from the front right of the car to the rear right of it.

Despite parking her car at a different location on Nov 13, her husband found a new scratch mark on the vehicle the following morning.

This time round, the scratch mark went almost round the whole car.

The total cost of repair for both occasions amounted to S$2,568.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jaime Pang said that Ee has not made restitution to any of his victims.

DDP Pang added that in 2017, Ee had served a week in jail for similar offences and he was also penalised for killer litter offences.

“He has not been deterred at all by his stint in prison and has reoffended,” DPP Pang said. “He has done even more damage than before.”

Referring to a note by a counsellor who spoke to Ee, the prosecutor said that the man did not express any remorse for his actions and claimed that he did not know why he scratched the cars.

Ee said that he sometimes developed the thought of scratching cars while walking through a car park and that it was his way of coping with stress.

However, DDP Pang said that a mandatory treatment order report found that he was not suffering from any mental disorders.

Ee’s son had told investigators that past attempts to engage his father through counselling was futile, and Ee would not listen to advice to curb his alcohol-drinking habits.

“Functionally, the only real protective factor is his relationship with his son,” DPP Pang said. However, he added that in light of the information provided by Ee’s family, he was no longer certain that this protective factor could keep Ee on the straight and narrow.

The prosecution’s position was that for an individual who was undeterred by his previous stints in prison, it would no longer be appropriate to have community-based sentencing — which does not involve imprisonment but include mandatory treatment orders or community work orders.

In seeking a five-week jail term, the prosecution said that Ee needs to learn through his time in prison that he cannot continue these offences on unsuspecting neighbours.

Ee, who was in court with his son, pleaded with District Judge May Mesenas to give him another chance.

District Judge Mesenas told him that if he desired to change, he should make it a point to attend counselling upon his release from prison.