SINGAPORE — The day he was released from jail, he found his home in a mess, realised that various electrical appliances were not working and, in a fit of frustration, threw a table fan and a pair of rusty scissors out of the window of his eighth-floor flat.

A few weeks later, Goh Ah Boon, 52, was caught inhaling toluene — a chemical found in glue — and, a few weeks after that, he took an e-scooter that did not belong to him.

On Wednesday (Oct 2), Goh pleaded guilty to one charge each of committing a rash act, theft and dishonest misappropriation of property, and two charges of misuse of intoxicating substances. He was sentenced to seven months’ jail and fined S$2,000.

Goh — who has been in and out of prison more than a dozen times over 30 years — was also given another enhanced sentence of 37 days’ jail as he had reoffended while on remission.

A FAN AND A PAIR OF SCISSORS

Goh, who had just served four months in prison for theft offences, returned to his flat on April 12. The location was not disclosed in court documents.

Goh’s lawyer, Mr Tan Jeh Yaw of Tan Jeh Yaw Law Chambers, said he found that his flat was dirty and that food in his broken fridge had become rotten, filling the place with a foul smell.

Because of the “dilapidated state” of his house, Goh became upset and frustrated as he felt that he lacked family support.

At 11pm that day, Goh found that his 3.5kg table fan and a pair of scissors that was around 18cm in length were no longer functional. In mitigation, Mr Tan said that Goh “heard voices in his head” that told him to throw the items out of the window.

That was when he decided to hurl the items out of his window, which landed on the parapet of his neighbour’s second-floor flat.

He later conceded that throwing the faulty table fan and rusty scissors out of his window was wrong and endangered the safety of others.

INTOXICATING SUBSTANCES AND THEFT

Goh was also arrested on May 10 for sniffing glue from a plastic bag. Later, 1.9 micrograms of toluene per ml of blood was found in his blood sample.

Then on May 27, Goh had made away with an e-scooter that did not belong to him. The e-scooter was parked at Bedok Community Centre.

Goh did not attempt to identify the owner of the e-scooter when he took it. He committed the offence when he was on bail.

In mitigation, Mr Tan said Goh has already made restitution of S$300 — the value of the e-scooter — to its owner through his son.

He added that Goh is “genuinely remorseful and sincerely desires to turn over a new leaf” after serving his sentence.

Court documents show that Goh has a string of previous drug-related and property-related offences dating back to 1988 and 1991 respectively.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that Goh was given an additional sentence of 27 days’ jail for reoffending while on remission. This is incorrect. The enhanced sentence was for 37 days' jail. We are sorry for the error.