Man jailed for taking home toilet tap from newly opened Woodlands Police Division HQ
SINGAPORE — A 50-year-old man who went to the newly opened Woodlands Police Division Headquarters to bail his brother out from the lock up also took home a tap from a toilet sink.
When officers raided Seah Kian Li’s home a month later, after the crime was discovered, they found the $171.20 tap fixed in his home toilet.
At the State Courts on Thursday (15 August), the Singaporean was jailed for three months after he pleaded guilty to one charge of vandalism.
On 1 March, Seah went to the police division headquarters at 1 Woodlands Street 12, which commenced operations in November last year.
He used the toilet at about 12am and noticed that the basin tap was loose.
“He checked the basin tap and realised that it was suitable for his home toilet basin, and immediately formed the intention to steal the basin tap for himself,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Foo Shi Hao.
Seah unscrewed the tap from the sink using his hands and brought it back home.
Later that month, on 28 March, a cleaning supervisor noticed the missing tap and reported it to the facility manager of the police division headquarters.
The facility manager in turn reported the matter to a divisional logistics officer with the division headquarters.
He reviewed CCTV footage outside the toilet and saw the culprit in action. Seah had left the toilet door open while committing the crime.
Seah’s identity was ascertained after further investigations, and a police report was made at Woodlands West NPC on 16 April.
Officers raided Seah’s home the same day and found the missing tap fixed to his toilet basin. He was arrested and the tap seized.
For his crime, Seah could have been fined up to $2,000 or jailed for up to three years.
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