SINGAPORE — After completing some $29,900 worth of flat renovation works when their clients terminated the contract, a father-son duo trespassed into the flat and took fixtures they had installed, including two toilet bowls.

On Thursday (Feb 15), Lau Mingjie, 42, and Lau Tia Boon, 67, both directors of DND Interior Design, were fined S$1,400 each.

They had both pleaded guilty to one count of criminal trespass.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Claire Poh said that in April 2022, the duo had entered into a contract to renovate the flat of a married couple who were expecting a child then.

The flat was owned by the couple and leased to tenants.

The total cost of renovation works was S$51,000, and the couple paid S$15,000 as a down payment. The rest was to be paid in monthly instalments of S$800 for 45 months.

As part of the contract, the renovations were to be completed by June 30, 2022 and the items provided by the men, such as doors and toilet bowls, would belong to them until full payment was made.

DPP Poh said that some time later, the men and the couple had a disagreement and the couple told them on June 17, 2022 that they were terminating the contract.

At this point, the duo had carried out at least S$29,900 worth of renovation works, out of the projected total of S$51,000.

"In other words, taking the sum (the couple) had paid, (they) owed the accused persons at least S$14,640," DPP Chua said.

Feeling that they would have difficulty getting the money owed to them, they decided to enter the flat to remove certain items that they had installed without informing the couple.

"The accused persons did this to cut their losses and also to intimidate the victims," DPP Chua added.

On June 20, 2022, at about 2pm, the two men entered the flat and dismantled the water piping, three room doors, two toilet bowls and one toilet window.

None of the four tenants living in the flat were present when the duo entered the flat.

After that, Lau Mingjie sent an invoice to the couple over WhatsApp demanding payment for the outstanding renovation sums.

As a result of their actions, the couple's tenants could no longer live in the flat, DPP Chua said. The couple had to provide alternative accommodation at a hotel for one of their tenants for two days.

NO 'VIGILANTE JUSTICE'

DPP Chua sought a fine of S$1,500, noting that the wife was heavily pregnant at the time of the offence, and the men's actions "caused significant distress".

In mitigation, the men's lawyer Mark Yeo of Fortress Law Corporation said that the duo had provided the couple with the contract and a lower down-payment amount "out of goodwill and compassion".

This was after the couple had told them about their financial plight, and how they had wanted to "renovate their flat while being able to make ends meet".

"But once the renovation project went underway, the predominant feeling from the accused persons was that they were being taken for a ride... and the contract was terminated when the works were almost done," Mr Yeo said.

He added that the two men made a police report against the couple as well.

When asked by District Judge Janet Wong if the duo had sought other means to get the money owed, Mr Yeo said that they had not, due to the ongoing court proceedings.

The couple have yet to pay the outstanding sum owed.

In sentencing, the judge acknowledged that the couple might have fallen short in making payment for the services but what the two men did was "disproportionate".

She added that the duo are not new to the industry — Lau Tia Boon has 40 years of experience, while Lau Mingjie has 27 years — and they should have sought other ways to recover the money owed.

"Service providers should not take vigilante justice by dealing with errant customers with their own hands," she said.

For committing criminal trespass, Lau Mingjie and Lau Tia Boon each faced up to three months' jail or a fine of up to S$1,500, or both.