Man tried to burn ex-girlfriend's father's shop
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JILTED by his girlfriend of seven years, Alex Wong Kia Soon, 30, tried to set fire to her father's provision shop in Bukit Batok Street 33. He brought along two bottles of kerosene, lit the homemade cloth fuses and threw them down onto the roof of the shop at 11.40pm on Oct 4. Luckily, the fire went out after a few seconds and damage was estimated to be less than $50.
On Thursday, Wong was jailed for a day and fined $5,000 by a community court. He had pleaded guilty last month to one count of committing mischief by fire. Two other similar offences - committed on Sept 22 and Oct 3 last year - were taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing.
The court ordered for a probation report was ordered but on Thursday, District Judge Ng Peng Hong heard that probation was not recommended as Wong, who suffers from a major depressive disorder, does not want to undergo psychiatric treatment or take his medicine.
He had complained to the probation officer that his medication made him 'feel weird'. Wong also claimed he was much better now but Judge Ng advised him that since psychiatrists deemed it necessary for him to continue treatment, he should listen to the professionals. Added the judge: 'If there are side-effects, tell the doctors and they will prescribe other drugs.'
His lawyer VG Sambandan had informed the court that at the time of the offences, Wong had lost his job as an IT engineer and his pet cat of 15 years had also died. All these misfortunes coupled together had a detrimental effect on his client's mental state, the lawyer said.
-- ST