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Bukit Batok carpark blast caused by man's suicide attempt
Hannah Teoh,Yahoo News Singapore 3 hours ago
The scene at 290H Bukit Batok Street 24. (PHOTO: Facebook video screenshot)
Wanting to end his life because of failed relationship and financial problems, Dwight T. Soriano tried to commit suicide by inhaling butane gas in his car.
Instead of killing himself, however, the 32-year-old caused an explosion when he lit a cigarette inside the gas-filled vehicle. Photos and videos of the incident went viral, with several images showing the destroyed car and passers-by attending to the injured man.
At the State Courts on Thursday (21 December), Soriano pleaded guilty to two counts of committing a rash act involving combustible material that endangered human life. He will be sentenced on 5 January.
The court heard that on 26 April this year, police received a report of an explosion at a multi-storey carpark at Block 290H Bukit Batok Street 24.
Officers at the scene found a badly damaged Nissan Dualis and portable butane gas canisters, along with Soriano who was taken to hospital with extensive burn injuries.
Then employed as a Grab driver, Soriano had defaulted on rental instalments for the car and planned to kill himself because of his financial woes and his failed relationship.
He researched how to die by gas inhalation and purchased four butane gas canisters on 26 April, which he punctured to release the gas into his car.
That evening, he began feeling drowsy and drove the car to the multi-storey carpark at Blockk 290H. While there, he decided to smoke a cigarette and struck a lighter while in the car, which caused an explosion. Eight other cars parked nearby were damaged by the blast.
Soriano had also attempted suicide on an earlier occasion while staying with a friend. On 11 April, he pierced a hole in the piping of an LPG gas tank in his friend’s home and tried inhaling the gas.
When he heard his friend coming out of the bedroom, he left the unit without informing his friend of the gas leakage. His friend discovered the gas leak and immediately switched off the gas tank.
Soriano also pleaded guilty to four counts of cheating and one count of causing mischief by fire in separate incidents. He was also previously convicted for cheating and was sentenced to 17 months’ jail in 2015.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Derek Ee sought a total of 24 months’ jail for all of Soriano’s charges. Referring to the incident in the carpark, Ee said Soriano’s act caused significant public disquiet.
Ee added that it was “fortuitous” that people were not harmed as a result of Soriano’s actions.
Soriano had a “propensity to use combustible material to carry out harm to himself and others” and was a “danger to society and himself”, said the DPP.
Soriano’s lawyer Ariel Lim, who was assigned under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, said Soriano committed the offences in a depressed and suicidal state. He has since been receiving treatment and medication, and is willing to undergo counselling, said Lim, who also pointed out that the injuries sustained by Soriano during the explosion served a “retributive function”.
Lim asked for a total sentence of nine months for all the charges. Pleading for leniency, Lim said that Soriano has “come to his senses from his depressed and suicidal state”.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur said it was material to note Soriano’s state of mind when he was attempting to take his own life. She added that the act was not committed out of boredom or for fun.
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, a fine of $5,000 or both.
Hannah Teoh,Yahoo News Singapore 3 hours ago
The scene at 290H Bukit Batok Street 24. (PHOTO: Facebook video screenshot)
Wanting to end his life because of failed relationship and financial problems, Dwight T. Soriano tried to commit suicide by inhaling butane gas in his car.
Instead of killing himself, however, the 32-year-old caused an explosion when he lit a cigarette inside the gas-filled vehicle. Photos and videos of the incident went viral, with several images showing the destroyed car and passers-by attending to the injured man.
At the State Courts on Thursday (21 December), Soriano pleaded guilty to two counts of committing a rash act involving combustible material that endangered human life. He will be sentenced on 5 January.
The court heard that on 26 April this year, police received a report of an explosion at a multi-storey carpark at Block 290H Bukit Batok Street 24.
Officers at the scene found a badly damaged Nissan Dualis and portable butane gas canisters, along with Soriano who was taken to hospital with extensive burn injuries.
Then employed as a Grab driver, Soriano had defaulted on rental instalments for the car and planned to kill himself because of his financial woes and his failed relationship.
He researched how to die by gas inhalation and purchased four butane gas canisters on 26 April, which he punctured to release the gas into his car.
That evening, he began feeling drowsy and drove the car to the multi-storey carpark at Blockk 290H. While there, he decided to smoke a cigarette and struck a lighter while in the car, which caused an explosion. Eight other cars parked nearby were damaged by the blast.
Soriano had also attempted suicide on an earlier occasion while staying with a friend. On 11 April, he pierced a hole in the piping of an LPG gas tank in his friend’s home and tried inhaling the gas.
When he heard his friend coming out of the bedroom, he left the unit without informing his friend of the gas leakage. His friend discovered the gas leak and immediately switched off the gas tank.
Soriano also pleaded guilty to four counts of cheating and one count of causing mischief by fire in separate incidents. He was also previously convicted for cheating and was sentenced to 17 months’ jail in 2015.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Derek Ee sought a total of 24 months’ jail for all of Soriano’s charges. Referring to the incident in the carpark, Ee said Soriano’s act caused significant public disquiet.
Ee added that it was “fortuitous” that people were not harmed as a result of Soriano’s actions.
Soriano had a “propensity to use combustible material to carry out harm to himself and others” and was a “danger to society and himself”, said the DPP.
Soriano’s lawyer Ariel Lim, who was assigned under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, said Soriano committed the offences in a depressed and suicidal state. He has since been receiving treatment and medication, and is willing to undergo counselling, said Lim, who also pointed out that the injuries sustained by Soriano during the explosion served a “retributive function”.
Lim asked for a total sentence of nine months for all the charges. Pleading for leniency, Lim said that Soriano has “come to his senses from his depressed and suicidal state”.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur said it was material to note Soriano’s state of mind when he was attempting to take his own life. She added that the act was not committed out of boredom or for fun.
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, a fine of $5,000 or both.
