Slingshot enthusiast gets jail for hitting windows in Hougang HDB block

SINGAPORE: A slingshot enthusiast who conducted target practice at his estate in Hougang twice ended up striking the windows of flats in a neighbouring block when he missed.

Chan Fan Kheow, 61, was sentenced to three weeks' jail on Wednesday (Apr 13) after pleading guilty to an amalgamated charge of committing a rash act that endangered the personal safety of others.

Another charge of carrying an offensive weapon in a public place was considered for sentencing.

District Judge Marvin Bay noted that Chan persisted with his target practice in the neighbourhood despite being aware of his poor accuracy, and that this was aggravating.

He said that Chan, as a fellow resident in a public housing flat, would have been aware of the density of residents in the block and hence the possibility of injury to other people.

The judge cited a forensic report by the Health Sciences Authority stating that people could have suffered eye injuries if hit directly by Chan's ball bearings.

Judge Bay also said it was improbable that Chan was not aware the slingshots were prohibited weapons, as he claimed, given the intensity with which he pursued his hobby.

The court previously heard that Chan became interested in slingshots after realising he could buy them cheaply online.

By January 2020, he had acquired seven of the prohibited weapons as well as metal ball bearings, marbles and plastic pellets to shoot with.

He also decided to attend coaching sessions after learning about slingshot competitions while on a business trip to Guangzhou in December 2019.

"NOT VERY SKILLED"

Chan was practising at the rooftop of a multi-storey car park at Hougang Avenue 9 when the incidents happened in December 2019 and January 2020.

He practised twice a day, in the mornings and evenings, by aiming at plastic bottles that he placed on the ground and ledge of the car park.

He often stood facing a neighbouring block, Block 923, and projected the ball bearings in this direction during practice.

As Chan "was not very skilled with using slingshots, there were instances where he missed the plastic bottles altogether", said the prosecutor.

On Dec 25, 2019, one of Chan's ball bearings missed the bottles and hit the glass window in the living room of a flat in Block 923. It cracked the window and made a small hole.

Later that day, a resident of the flat noticed a small glass shard on the living room floor and made a police report after realising it came from the window.

On Jan 12, 2020, Chan again missed at target practice, and his ball bearing hit a glass window in a bedroom of a flat in Block 923. It made a hole about the size of a five-cent coin.

The resident of the flat also made a police report after noticing the hole in the window and glass fragments on the floor next to the window.

The total damage to both flats' windows amounted to about S$310.

Chan was arrested on Jan 16, 2020, after police found his ball bearings scattered on the rooftop of the multi-storey car park and saw him take out a slingshot in police camera footage.

The prosecution had sought four to five weeks' jail, arguing that Chan knew he was not very skilled at using the slingshot and was also aware of the damage it could inflict.

The defence asked for one day's jail at most, if the judge found that imprisonment was warranted.

The lawyer contended that Chan took precautions by placing the plastic bottles in front of a ledge or bushes in case he missed.

However, the judge found that Chan's actions were "extremely rash and antisocial criminal acts" and that he "could not possibly have been oblivious" of the risk of hitting the neighbouring block. 

At the end of the hearing, Chan's defence lawyer asked for a two-week deferment for Chan to consider whether to appeal the sentence.

The punishment for endangering the personal safety of others through a rash act is up to six months' jail, a fine of up to S$5,000 or both.

Chan could have received double this penalty for his charge amalgamating two such offences.