Man jailed for throwing 13 beer bottles from his 7th floor HDB flat
Lim Lye Choon, who has polio, said he had difficulty throwing the bottles down the rubbish chute in his home after his flat was renovated.
File photo of a broken beer bottle. (Photo: iStock)
SINGAPORE: A man was sentenced to 15 weeks' jail on Tuesday (Dec 13) for throwing 13 beer bottles out of his seventh floor flat over the span of a few months.
Lim Lye Choon, 58, said he did so because he has a medical condition that affects his hands and found it difficult to throw the glass bottles down the rubbish chute in his home after his flat was renovated under the Housing Development Board's Home Improvement Programme (HIP).
He pleaded guilty to one charge of a rash act endangering the personal safety of others by throwing beer bottles from his flat in Jurong West.
The court heard that Lim, a cleaner, threw beer bottles down from Block 524, Jurong West Street 52, on 13 occasions between February and April this year.
On Feb 17, someone lodged a police report saying beer bottles were being thrown from one of the floors in the estate.
The person had been standing under a sheltered walkway while waiting for transport to work in the morning when a glass bottle was thrown from height. The bottle shattered upon hitting the ground.
Another neighbour recounted that glass bottles had been thrown from the unit above his on seven occasions.
Lim was identified after extensive collaborations between the police and the National Environment Agency, with aid from surveillance recordings, the prosecutor said.
When the police interviewed Lim, he admitted to throwing the glass bottles out of his flat.
He said he threw them because he experienced physical difficulty in using one hand to open the dustbin below the sink in his home while simultaneously disposing of the bottles.
He also said he did not think of taking the bottles downstairs for disposal.
The prosecutor sought four to six months' jail for Lim, who was unrepresented.
He said all 13 bottles shattered on impact and could have injured others. The cleaners in the area were also inconvenienced, as they had to clear the glass debris, he said.
He added the problem of killer litter being thrown out of flat windows must be severely curtailed quickly, as the majority of Singapore's population live in high-rise flats and apartments.
However, the prosecutor said there was no evidence of ill or malicious intent, and said Lim merely wanted to dispose of the bottles.
In mitigation, Lim said through an interpreter that he suffers from a medical condition called infantile paralysis, or polio.
It affects both his hands and legs.
"I can throw light objects with one hand. I only have the left hand which has the strength to open the cover of the dustbin," he said.
"After my house underwent HDB HIP programme, the cover of the dustbin has a spring and it will close by itself, so that makes it difficult for me to throw the rubbish," he said.
He added the rubbish bin has since been replaced.
The judge said that while the court empathises with Lim and his medical condition, it can never be an excuse for his actions.
"By throwing beer bottles from your unit at the seventh floor to the ground floor, you can potentially cause serious harm to passers-by downstairs," said the judge.
He said the dominant sentencing principle in killer litter cases is general deterrence.
In this case, the offence is particularly egregious, said the judge, as Lim committed killer litter offences on a whopping 13 occasions.
He said there are always other ways to dispose of beer bottles rather than throwing them out of a window.
