Teen gets community-based sentences for filling neighbour’s keyhole with superglue, shattering window

SINGAPORE — An 18-year-old girl who repeatedly committed acts of mischief against her neighbour until he moved out was sentenced to a year-long day-reporting order and community service order on Wednesday (June 17).

Jasmine Lau Jie Min, who turns 19 next month, received the community-based sentences after pleading guilty last month to harassing her neighbour for two weeks.

She had filled the keyhole of his main gate with superglue, used watercolour paint to draw on his doors and windows, and thrown water that was left out for the neighbourhood’s stray cats through an unsecured window.

A day-reporting order is for first-time offenders above 16 years old. They are required to report to a day-reporting centre for monitoring and counselling, and to undergo rehabilitation programmes.

Lau also has to perform 80 hours of community service within the next year, be placed on the electronic monitoring scheme and stay indoors from 10pm to 6am.

Those given a community service order must perform unpaid community service, after which they will have no record of their conviction.

Lau had pleaded guilty to four counts of mischief, with another two charges taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that she first struck on March 11. The location of their residences was redacted from court documents.

Besides using paint and superglue, she threw eggs and powdered cheese at the 44-year-old victim’s window and dummy camera.

She also poured liquid honey on his windowsill and kicked the potted plants outside his ground-floor flat. She claimed that she did this because he had been harassing her.

The man’s mother, who was visiting him that day, called the police after discovering what Lau had done. The woman was also unable to unlock the front and rear gates of the unit.

Three days later, Lau returned in the wee hours of the morning and cut the wires of four police closed-circuit surveillance system cameras outside the victim’s flat with a pair of scissors. The cameras had been installed there the day before.

Lau claimed that they made her feel uncomfortable and that she did not know they had been installed by the police.

Then, at about 2am on March 21, a fellow resident witnessed Lau kicking the victim’s main door several times. She returned to her own flat before going back to kick the door again.

The victim spent about S$600 replacing the door and digital and manual locks. Lau has not paid any compensation to him.

Lau kicked his door again three days later and punched his window, causing it to shatter. Court documents stated that she wanted to vent her anger towards him for standing behind her flat earlier that day.

He then moved out after having lived there for about one-and-a-half years.