Jail for man who crawled through drain into former Kallang Airport construction site seeking job

SINGAPORE — When Dang Huu Giang came across a fenced-off construction site at the former Kallang Airport building, he crawled through an open drain to enter the site seeking work even though his work permit had expired.

The 28-year-old Vietnamese man then urinated in a room and harassed the project manager overseeing renovation work on the site.

On Thursday (May 19), Dang was sentenced to two weeks and three days' jail and fined S$1,000 after pleading guilty to one count of housebreaking and one of using threatening words causing alarm.

He also pleaded guilty to one charge of stealing a can of Red Bull energy drink at a 7-11 convenience store.

The court heard that at about 2pm on March 25 this year, Dang crawled through the drain into the construction site at 9 Stadium Link, which is a building owned by the Singapore Land Authority.

After doing so, he could not find anyone who understood spoken Mandarin, Deputy Public Prosecutor Jordon Li said. 

Dang then urinated in one of the rooms to the annoyance of the project manager who decided to call the police.

The manager then noticed Dang pointing his phone camera at him. 

Dang then threatened him, saying in Mandarin: “If the police come for me... my friends and I will come back and give you problems.”

As for the theft charge, Dang was caught several weeks earlier, on March 9 this year, by the store manager of a 7-11 store at Kallang MRT Station placing a S$2.50 Red Bull can into his backpack before leaving the store. Dang bought a S$1 soft drink from the store before that.

The store manager confronted him, got him to return to the shop and found the can of Red Bull in his backpack. 

The manager then called the police to tell them that he had detained Dang for shoplifting and informed them that Dang had been cooperative.

On Thursday, Dang — who did not have a lawyer representing him — told the court that he has realised his mistake.

“I have been in remand for quite some time. I plead for leniency for a short sentence so that I can be back in my home country and be reunited with my parents, my wife and children,” he said through a court interpreter.

“I’m quite worried for them because we have not been able to communicate for quite some time.”

Dang’s jail sentence was backdated to March 25 when he was arrested. It was not immediately clear if Dang has been released from custody given that he has already served a longer period behind bars than the jail term imposed by the judge.

For housebreaking, he could have been jailed for up to three years or fined, or both. For shoplifting, he could have been jailed up to seven years and been liable to a fine.

For using threatening words causing alarm, he could have been jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$5,000, or both.