Reformative training for 2 teens who were involved in Boys’ Home riot

SINGAPORE — Two teenagers who were among a group of 14 youths involved in a riot at the Singapore Boys’ Home last year were each ordered to serve one year of reformative training on Thursday (Sept 12).

The duo, both aged 17, will have to undergo a regimented rehabilitation programme, imposed on offenders under the age of 21 who commit relatively serious crimes.

Among their offences, the 14 youths sprayed soap along a corridor, broke into one of their lockers using a fire extinguisher, and assaulted an auxiliary police officer with floorball sticks.

Three men working at the home wound up with various injuries after being attacked, with the police officer sustaining possibly permanent damage to his eye. 

The riot caused S$10,642 worth of damage to the home, which is located in Jurong West and run by the Ministry of Social and Family Development.

Seven of the youths — then aged between 14 and 17 — were charged in court last September with rioting with weapons. They cannot be named due to their ages.

The two teens were the first among the group to be dealt with.

A third youth involved, who is now aged 18, pleaded guilty in the State Courts last month. 

While he was also set to be sentenced on Thursday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Grace Chua said that he had been arrested the day before for committing new drug-related offences.

He will return to court on Oct 10. 

The remaining four youths’ cases are still pending.

TOTAL LACK OF RESPECT: JUDGE

Before being sentenced on Thursday, one of the two teenagers momentarily fainted in the dock. This prompted District Judge Eddy Tham to ask if he was conscious.

During sentencing, the judge lambasted the duo’s “total lack of regard or respect for the law and authority” and pointed to the “degree of violence displayed”.

He also noted that their offences would have landed them in jail and attracted mandatory caning. However, he added that in view of their young age, there is “still room for rehabilitation”. 

“What is really unfortunate and inexcusable is the serious and likely permanent injury to the eye of a victim. Such behaviour must be punished severely to send a clear message that this would not be tolerated,” District Judge Tham said.

STARTED FAKE ARGUMENT, ASSAULTED 3 ADULTS

The court previously heard that on Sept 26, 2018, some of the youths in the home had gotten into a shouting match and were placed on lockdown for the entire day.

Angered by the lockdown, seven of the youths discussed a plan to riot. 

Someone suggested that they carry out an “armour bang” — that is, the banging of items in dorms and causing damage.

The lockdown was eventually concluded and they decided not to carry out the plan. 

However, the boys proceeded with it two days later, agreeing to create as much chaos and destroy as much property in the home as possible.

At about 5.50pm on Sept 28 last year, the home’s youth guidance officer, Mr Saravanan Ramasamy, told everyone in the home to fall in at the courtyard.

Two of the boys began a fake argument. One of them punched the 33-year-old guidance officer in the face when he rushed forward to separate them. This triggered the rest of the group to join in the assault.

Some of the boys used plastic floorball sticks to hit Mr Saravanan, while the others punched him in the back of his head and kicked him. When he tried to flee to the badminton court, they stomped on his head and body.

Mr Lim Kung Fu, 45, the home’s assistant manager, tried to help but they assaulted him too, causing him to drop his walkie-talkie.

The auxiliary police officer, 44-year-old Yong Chee Kin, drew his baton and shouted at them to drop their weapons. The youths turned on him, punching and kicking him till he dropped his baton.

One of them picked it up and challenged the home’s other staff members to fight him.

The boys also damaged property at the home, including breaking a television with the floorball sticks and throwing water tanks to the ground.

The three men who had been assaulted were later taken to the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

GOT MORE TO JOIN IN

At some point during the riot, the youths used Mr Saravanan’s staff pass to enter the home’s second floor. There, they unlocked the dormitory to release four more boys, who sprayed fire extinguishers around the corridor.

When they got to the third level, 10 of them managed to unlock one of the dorms housing more youths. They sprayed fire extinguishers at them before fleeing.

The youths retreated into their dorms when they heard the police arrive. 

Some of them dismantled bed frames and barricaded them against the dorm’s gate to stop the authorities from entering, while one of them used Mr Yong’s baton to smash the closed-circuit television camera.

They then broke into song and shouted loudly while waiting in their dorms for the police to apprehend them, the court heard.