Jail time shortened for man who stole basin tap from Woodlands police station
Seah Kian Li unscrewed the tap — valued at S$171.20 — from the sink with his bare hands and took it home with him.
SINGAPORE — A 50-year-old man who stole a basin tap from a bathroom at the Woodlands police division headquarters had his jail sentence reduced from three months to three weeks on Friday (Nov 1).
Seah Kian Li made headlines in August when he was originally sentenced in a district court.
He had committed the offence in March, when he was at the station to post bail for his brother.
While he was using the toilet on the third storey, he noticed that the basin tap was loose and realised it would be suitable for use with the toilet basin in his own home.
He then unscrewed the tap — valued at S$171.20 — from the sink with his bare hands and took it home with him. The station’s cleaning supervisor only realised it was missing a month later.
The station’s divisional logistics officer saw Seah unscrewing the tap through closed-circuit television footage, which was not in the toilet but was facing its entrance. He had left the door open.
When Seah’s home was raided, authorities discovered the tap affixed to his home toilet basin. It was seized and Seah was subsequently arrested.
On Friday, his lawyer Rajan Sanjiv Kumar, who was defending him pro bono, told the High Court that the sentence was “manifestly excessive” and not in line with similar vandalism cases in the past.
Seah had been unrepresented by a lawyer in the State Courts.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Khoo said that the Attorney-General’s Chambers had conducted an internal review and agreed that the sentence was “a bit high”.
Mr Rajan argued that Seah had not displayed premeditation and only decided to unscrew it when he was at the station. There was no damage to the tap, and he had “readily admitted” to the crime when police officers came to his home.
The tap was of “low value” and it was already loose too, said the lawyer.
“There was full cooperation with the authorities. On the day of the raid, he put his hands up and said ‘done it’. This issue of premeditation — it was not a case of him going on a vandalism spree,” Mr Rajan added.
Mr Rajan also noted that Seah had remained crime-free for a decade. His last brush with the law was in 2008, when he was caught driving while intoxicated.
His previous offences dated back to 1996, when he was convicted of property-related offences. He was also dealt with in 2002 on drug-related charges, and housebreaking by night in 2006.
Mr Rajan also said that the district judge had erred in giving Seah additional jail time of one month in lieu of caning, as his offence was “at the lowest end of the spectrum of seriousness of vandalism offences”.
Offenders above 50 years old cannot be caned by law.
As Seah had already spent 19 days behind bars before being released on bail pending his appeal, Justice Aedit Abdullah allowed him to walk free with time served.
For the charge of vandalism, Seah could have been jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$2,000.
