Teen admits cutting construction worker's safety rope, molesting classmate
Workers clean the exterior of a building on a gondola lift. (File photo: iStock)
SINGAPORE: A construction worker was cleaning windows at the 27th floor of a building when he discovered that the safety rope of the gondola lift attached to his harness was partially cut at the 26th floor.
He stopped cleaning the building at Bayshore Road immediately and reported the matter to his supervisor.
On Thursday (Mar 3), an 18-year-old boy admitted to partially cutting the rope in May 2018, an act that endangered the safety of another person.
He also pleaded guilty to one count each of outrage of modesty, mischief, transmitting a false message to the police and theft, as well as two counts of cheating.
The accused cannot be named as he was under 18 at the time of the offences.
The court heard that the boy molested his classmate sometime between January and March 2016, when she was 13 years old. He brushed his hand against her upper thigh and buttock over her clothes.
In December 2017, he found a discarded can of lubricant and thought it would be funny to spray it on lift buttons to make them slippery so that passengers might accidentally press the wrong buttons.
He sprayed the lubricant on the lift buttons at a Bayshore Road building, diminishing their utility, which was an offence of mischief.
On Oct 29, 2018, he took his friend's phone and called the police, saying: "I was kidnapped. Don't kill me, don't kill me." By doing so, he transmitted a message he knew to be false to the police.
On the theft charge, the teen admitted to entering a cafe after it had closed on Sep 9, 2019, and stealing two packets of instant noodles worth S$5.
He also cheated two people in October 2021 by making them believe that he was selling an in-game item from the online game Growtopia. He ran this scheme on others, cheating buyers of S$511, for which he has made full restitution.
Another nine charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing.
The judge called for a probation suitability report, as requested by both the defence and prosecution.
The teen will return to court for sentencing in April.
