Killer litter : Woman charged

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Singapore
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Dec 15, 2009

Killer litter: Woman charged

<!-- by line --> By Elena Chong
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<!-- end left side bar --> <!-- story content : start --> A WOMAN was charged in a magistrate's court on Tuesday with throwing a bottle of chilli sauce from the bedroom of her 16th-floor flat in Sengkang. No plea was taken from Thiang Ai Lian, 34. She is accused of committing the killer-litter offence at Block 206D Compassvale Lane at about 2pm on Sunday. She told the court that she was doing her laundry and did not know what happened. Thiang, who was not represented, then asked to speak to her lawyer. District Judge Lee Poh Choo allowed her to make a phone call. Thiang was remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric assessment until Dec 29. If convicted, she faces a jail term of up to six months and/or a fine of up to $2,500.

 

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Singapore
Home > Breaking News > Singapore > Story
Dec 15, 2009

Killer litter injures guest
By Carolyn Quek and Mavis Toh

Residents of Block 206D Compassvale Lane in Sengkang have had to live with half-eaten food, water bottles and even sanitary pads raining down on them. -- ST PHOTO: KIANG LOONG TIANG

The suspect, whom neighbours said started acting erratic a year ago, being led away by police on Sunday. --PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS <!-- end by line --> <!-- end left side bar -->

FOR months, residents of Block 206D Compassvale Lane in Sengkang have had to live with half-eaten food, water bottles and even sanitary pads raining down on them. Worried that someone could get hurt, several reported to the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council. There were six complaints in the last three months alone. But before the problem could be stopped, the residents' worst fears came to pass at the weekend, while a two-day wedding celebration was being held there. On Saturday evening, wedding guest Kasman Samat, 48, was struck on the head by a flowerpot. The hotel trainee manager, a father of three, is warded at Changi General Hospital with fractures to his head and injuries to his face. Several other wedding guests, including a four-year-old girl, had close shaves, as another pot and a bottle of chilli sauce came hurtling down the same day.

Late on Sunday afternoon, police arrested a 34-year-old woman living on the top floor of the 16-storey block, after she was seen throwing another bottle of chilli sauce from her flat. But the arrest was not without drama, as the woman locked herself in. Firemen used a power saw to cut the lock on her front door, and four Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team officers rappelled from the building's roof and into her bedroom through the window. Meanwhile, an inflatable pack was set up at the foot of the block, as several residents and wedding guests watched. The crowd clapped and cheered as police led the woman away. The woman's neighbours said she moved into her five-room flat about three years ago with her husband, and he moved out a year ago.

Around that time, her behaviour also became increasingly erratic, they said. Tami, a 27-year-old Indonesian maid from two doors away, said the woman would always shout at her in Mandarin whenever she walked past her flat. Others on the same floor said that in recent months, the woman could be heard screaming and shouting vulgarities every day, sometimes late at night. They, too, had close encounters with killer litter. Retail supervisor Serene Soh, 39, said her car had been struck by half a honeydew melon before. Just last month, security guard Kiang Loong Tiang, 41, who lives in the next block, was walking his two young children to the kindergarten at Block 206D when a glass bottle came crashing down. He said he wrote to the town council immediately. 'It is not about my children's safety only. I knew it was just a matter of time when an injury or death would happen.' It happened on Saturday. Mr Kasman was standing with relatives at the foot of the block when the incident happened.

Mr Kasman was unconscious for five minutes after the flowerpot hit the left side of his head, according to his son, student Aliff Kurniawan, 21. 'The impact was so great that it shattered the flowerpot, and my dad's songkok was torn.' The impact left the hotel trainee manager with multiple head fractures, bleeding in the skull and swelling of the brain. He was in the hospital's high dependency unit for two days and was unable to speak. The wound on his forehead needed seven stitches. When The Straits Times visited him yesterday, Mr Kasman could only say that his head hurt and that he did not remember what happened. Mr Aliff said that after the incident, people in the area told his family that killer litter had been raining down there for some time. He said: 'You shouldn't wait till someone gets hurt to take action. It is a very dangerous act and involves someone's life.'

When contacted, a spokesman for the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council said it received six complaints about high-rise littering from residents of Block 206D in the past three months. But the residents did not know where the culprit lived, so the block's property officer went door to door advising residents against littering. The National Environment Agency was also alerted, and fliers were distributed. The town council spokesman said that officers had gone to the 16th-floor unit, but no one answered the door when they knocked. Town council and NEA officers also conducted a joint inspection last Friday but no one was seen littering. 'If we know the unit, we will focus on it and bring in different agencies like the police and residents' committee to curb the littering,' said the spokesman.