Teen charged with trespassing into zoo's rhino enclosure
SINGAPORE — A 19-year-old who trespassed into the Singapore Zoo's white rhinoceros enclosure to perform a backflip stunt for his TikTok account in December last year was on Monday (12 July) charged with criminal trespass.
Ralph Wee Yi Kai was also charged with one count of vandalism and two counts of mischief involving separate incidents that took place in October last year.
No plea was taken and he will return to court on 16 August. He is out on bail of $15,000.
According to his trespass charge, Wee allegedly entered the white rhino enclosure at about 2.45pm on 17 December last year.
The police in a statement on Sunday said the suspect's female friend filmed the incident while the suspect posted the video on his TikTok account.
The friend was issued with a stern warning by the police on 8 July for abetting in the trespass.
Meanwhile, at about 2.40am on 9 October last year, Wee allegedly vandalised an information panel at a bus stop along Sixth Avenue, causing the Land Transport Authority to incur $900 worth of damage.
He purportedly also hit the side mirrors of a BMW car and a Mercedes Benz car along Sixth Crescent at around the same time that morning. The damage caused to the cars were worth $1669.20 and $2792.70 respectively.
The punishment for trespass is a jail term of up to three months and/or a fine of up to $1,500.
If found guilty of his vandalism charge involving damage to public property, Wee faces a fine of up to $2,000 or a jail term of up to three years, and mandatory caning of between three and eight strokes.
The penalty for causing mischief is up to one year in jail and/or a fine.
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