Teen pleads guilty to filling neighbour’s keyhole with superglue, cutting police camera wires

SINGAPORE — Over the span of two weeks, an 18-year-old girl committed such acts of mischief against her neighbour until he eventually moved out, when she damaged the door and locks on his main gate.

On one particular day, Jasmine Lau Jie Min filled the keyhole of the neighbour’s main gate with superglue and used watercolour paint to draw on his doors and windows. 

She also threw water, which had been left out for the neighbourhood’s stray cats, and a bamboo pole into his flat through an unsecured window.

Lau pleaded guilty on Wednesday (May 27) to four counts of mischief. Another two such charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing on June 17.

Deputy Principal District Judge Seah Chi-Ling called for reports to assess if she is suitable for probation, reformative training, a day-reporting order or a community service order.

Reformative training — a regimented rehabilitation programme for offenders under the age of 21 who commit relatively serious crimes — is a harsher punishment than probation, which allows young offenders to continue with their education or employment while serving their sentences.

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, counselling and to undergo rehabilitation programmes.

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

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that Lau 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 who was smoking 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.

Finally, 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.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Genevieve Pang described Lau’s offences as “relatively serious” and “sustained” ones, and noted that she had no mental illnesses. 

District Judge Seah noted from a report that she had “very little supervision at home”.

In mitigation, Lau said: “I have no ill intentions to harm anyone living in that unit. I didn’t actually want to do all those series of mischief… I want to apologise for the inconvenience caused.”