Man who started Bukit Batok carpark blast jailed 15 months
A former Grab driver who caused a car to explode in a bid to end his life due to a failed relationship and financial woes was jailed 15 months on Friday (5 January).
Dwight T. Soriano, 32, earlier pleaded guilty on December 21 last year in the State Courts to two counts of committing a rash act involving combustible material that endangered human life, one of mischief by fire and four unrelated cheating offences. Twelve other similar charges were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
In sentencing, District Judge Jasvender Kaur called his actions a “potentially dangerous act” spurred on by “emotional instability” and a “foolish attempt” to seek the attention of his former girlfriend.
“I recognise a (stronger) deterrent sentence serves no deterrence to those who want to kill themselves,” she added.
On the evening of 26 April last year, the Singaporean parked his car at a multi-storey carpark at Block 290H Bukit Batok Street 24. He lit a cigarette with a lighter inside a butane-filled vehicle, and the spark caused an explosion.
The incident later went viral on social media with images showing a badly damaged Nissan Dualis and passers-by attending to Soriano, who was conveyed to hospital with extensive burn injuries. Eight other cars parked nearby were damaged by the blast.
Earlier the same day, he had researched how to die by gas inhalation and bought four butane gas canisters, which he had punctured to release the gas inside the car.
That evening, he began feeling drowsy and drove the car to the carpark. Knowing that the car was filled with the inflammable gas, he decided to smoke a cigarette and struck a lighter, which caused the car to explode.
Soriano had also attempted suicide about two weeks prior while staying with a friend. On 11 April last year at about 8am, he pierced a hole in a rubber piping connecting a liquefied petroleum gas tank to a stove and inhaled the escaping fumes.
When he heard his friend coming out of the bedroom, he left the unit without informing his friend of the gas leakage. His friend later discovered it and immediately switched off the gas tank.
Separately, Soriano also set fire to a Chinese New Year decoration that was attached to the door of his former girlfriend’s unit at Fernvale Link.
Soriano also cheated 13 men out of $3,520 in total. He had placed an advertisement on Carousell offering cars for rent, and collected deposit money from these men. The cars, however, were not delivered to them and he subsequently became uncontactable.
After the verdict, Soriano requested to speak for five minutes to a close friend who was present in court.
Speaking to Yahoo News Singapore, Jay Nair, 36, a freelance security worker who has been friends with Soriano since 2003, said, “He remains positive and I am hoping he will change for the better.”
Soriano was also previously convicted of cheating and was sentenced to 17 months’ jail in 2015.
The maximum penalty for committing a rash act with combustible material so as to endanger life or cause hurt is a jail term of a year and/or a fine of $5,000.
