Man broke into neighbour’s house over alleged CCTV monitoring
SINGAPORE — A man broke into his neighbour’s house to complain about a CCTV camera being installed to monitor him.
Tan Yan Chong was arrested for housebreaking, and he later told police officers about drugs in his house.
After he was placed on bail, Tan returned to the same neighbour’s house and tried to set it on fire.
Tan, who is a former police officer, was unemployed at the time of his offences. He was holding the rank of corporal when he resigned from the Singapore Police Force in 2008.
On Thursday (21 November), the 35-year-old Singaporean was jailed for 23 months after he pleaded guilty to an array of charges including consuming and possessing drugs, housebreaking by night and mischief by fire.
He also admitted to uttering a vulgarity at a police officer who was processing his bail, after complaining that the clothes provided by the Singapore Prison Service were transparent.
Other charges relating to drugs and mischief were considered for his sentencing.
Alleged CCTV monitoring
On 5 April last year, Tan climbed onto his neighbour’s balcony from his own at about 6am by bypassing the low wall separating the units. The neighbour, Wong Soon Yuh, and his girlfriend were awakened by the noise Tan created.
Tan then tried to pry open the glass doors to Wong’s home. When Wong opened the door to ask Tan what he was doing, Tan replied that Wong’s girlfriend had installed CCTVs in his home and was monitoring him.
Three hours earlier, Tan called the police to report that Wong’s girlfriend had installed CCTVs in his house, and the couple had admitted to it. But barely minutes later, Tan called the police again to tell them not to come as he wanted to discuss the issue with Wong first.
“Tan’s actions were evidently done with the intent to annoy (Wong). After this interaction, (Tan) climbed back into his unit by climbing over the low wall separating both units,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Magdalene Huang said.
Wong called the police at 6.23am to report Tan’s actions. Tan was arrested a few hours later by police officers and admitted to climbing over the wall when questioned.
After he was brought to police lock-up, he informed officers about the possible presence of drugs in his unit. He was later escorted back separately to the unit he resided at and his official registered address, where officers from the Central Narcotics Bureau seized methamphetamine, ketamine and ecstasy.
Tan admitted to owning the drugs and said that they were for his own consumption and that he had sold some to others.
On 19 April last year, when Tan was being let out on bail, he complained to a Singapore Prison Service Officer at Changi Prison Complex that the clothes provided to bail inmates were transparent.
When the prisons officer replied that the clothes were standard items issued, Tan shouted “f*** you” at him. In response, the officer told Tan to be careful about the words he used but Tan repeated “f*** you” in a softer tone.
Tried to set neighbour’s unit on fire
Nine days later, when Tan was back at his residence, another neighbour saw Tan trying to set Wong’s unit on fire. Yong Wei Wei, who stayed on the same floor as Tan and Wong, heard noises from the corridor at 3pm. Yong looked through the peephole to see Tan squatting in front of Wong’s unit and using duct tape to seal the edges of Wong’s front door.
Yong decided not to act. Hours later, she saw Tan lighting a roll of paper on fire and brushing it against the main door of Wong’s unit. She witnessed Tan spraying what she believed to be aerosol on Wong’s front door. She called the police, who later arrested Tan again.
Tan caused burn marks to Wong’s front door. Police officers later found soil mixed with glass shards shoved under the door.
Alleged police manhandled him
The prosecution sought 23 months’ jail for Tan.
Unrepresented, Tan said during his mitigation that he had filed a complaint against 10 to 12 police officers for manhandling him while he was on a sofa.
However, District Judge Salina Ishak scolded Tan for raising the complaint as the court was not the appropriate venue to discuss it.
“If you have issues and complaints, you should take it up separately and not as a form of mitigation,” said the judge.
Tan also claimed that a confidential medical condition that had not been known to his sister and mother were disclosed by a judge in another court.
When DJ Salina asked how this was a mitigating factor, Tan replied, “It is a suffering that I have gone through”.
Tan added that he had been “highly cooperative with authorities” especially with Central Narcotics Bureau officers and asked for the lightest sentence possible as the offence was his first.
He also said that he admitted himself to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for his drug consumption before he was arrested.
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