Man jailed for stuffing joss stick into man's lock, throwing away his shoes
File photo of the State Courts.
SINGAPORE: A man was jailed after he harassed his sister's neighbour by sticking items into the gate lock, blocking access to the neighbour's home and throwing away his shoes.
Lee Huat Lai, 50, also hit his own sister in a dispute, made nuisance calls to the police and gambled online illegally.
For his myriad crimes, Lee was sentenced on Thursday (May 30) to jail for one month and one week and fined S$2,000. He was also given an additional sentence of 211 days' jail for breaching his remission order, as he had gambled while on remission order.
He pleaded guilty to three charges of remote gambling, voluntarily causing hurt and unlawful stalking, with another three charges taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court heard that Lee, who has previous convictions, was released from jail in May last year on a remission order.
However, he kept in touch with his cellmate, who was an illegal bookmaker, and told him a month later that he wanted to try online gambling as he was having financial difficulties.
His former cellmate taught him how to gamble online using his mobile phone, and Lee played baccarat on his phone, losing S$10,000 that he had been transferred in game credits from his cellmate.
As Lee could not repay his cellmate the full sum, the cellmate began harassing him and Lee lodged a police report in June last year.
In November 2018, Lee made two calls to the police, lying on one occasion that there were 20 Chinese men quarrelling and about to start a fight. During another call, he claimed there were 30 people in an imminent "gang clash".
HARASSED MAN BY OBSTRUCTING GATE
It was between late November and early December last year that he harassed a man by locking his gate.
The court heard that on two occasions, Lee had used a bicycle lock to lock the gate of Mr Chew Khiu Suan, a 51-year-old driver who lived in the same block as Lee's sister.
After those incidents, he stuffed a joss stick into the lock of Mr Chew's gate, so that the residents could not enter or exit the flat.
A week later, on Dec 8, he stuffed a grass root into the lock of the gate, again stopping them from entering or leaving the flat.
During this period, Lee also threw away two pairs of shoes that were outside the flat, worth S$30 and S$80, as well as the right side of a third pair of shoes.
Lee admitted to harassing Mr Chew as he allegedly owed Lee money.
In January this year, while working as a car dealer, Lee got into a dispute with his younger sister and used his elbow to hit her in the face.
She went to a polyclinic with an abrasion, tenderness in her nose bridge and a bruise at the corner of her eye.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Mansoor Amir told the court a list of previous convictions Lee had - ranging from traffic-related offences, vandalism and house trespass to theft.
VICTIM ALLEGEDLY OWED LEE MONEY FOR MORE THAN 10 YEARS: DEFENCE
Lee's defence lawyer Christopher Sim said that Lee was very remorseful and had taken the earliest opportunity to plead guilty.
"Because the victim in the voluntarily causing hurt (charge) is his own sister, he wants to reconcile with her and apologise to her," said the lawyer. "As for the charge involving (harassment), the victim owes him money from more than 10 years ago."
The prosecutor responded that the victim had said he did not owe Lee any money.
"The accused's conduct in this case, even if he did owe him money, was not viable," said the prosecutor.
The judge said that although the duration of the harassment had been short, it was aggravating and warranted a custodial sentence.
