Man to pay S$8,000 fine after threatening woman on phone, showing up with penknife outside her home
SINGAPORE — Upset that a woman was playing mobile game Mobile Legends with her male friends and had blocked him on messaging application Telegram, a man sent her a text message saying that he was on his way with a knife.
Xets Low Teck Wei, a 29-year-old Singaporean, was ordered to pay an S$8,000 fine after pleading guilty to criminal intimidation.
During sentencing, the judge took into account a charge of Low being found armed with a penknife when he was near the victim's home during the same incident and another charge of punching the same victim on the nose on an earlier occasion.
The 25-year-old woman’s name, how she knows Low and how they are related to each other cannot be published due to a court order protecting her identity.
WHAT HAPPENED
On Oct 18 in 2022, the woman was replying to Low’s text messages on Telegram and told him that she was playing Mobile Legends, a mobile multi-player online game, with her male friends.
He became unhappy with her and demanded that she return money that he had lent her.
She transferred the money to him and then deleted her chat log with him on Telegram. She also blocked him on the app.
Low turned to sending her messages on iMessage, the message service for iPhones, and they ended up arguing.
He sent a series of threatening texts, where he asked her if she wanted to die and said, “I will make sure you are dead”.
He also said that he was “on the way with a knife” and used vulgar phrases and terms in a message where he asked her to get her ex-boyfriend to “save (her) from getting murdered”.
Referring to an intimate image of the victim he had sent to her over iMessage earlier, he threatened to post this in a chat group on instant messaging platform Discord. They are both in this chat group with two mutual friends.
Fearing for her safety, the woman sent a message to the police text messaging channel, reporting that Low continued to threaten her by saying that he would kill her and had told her that he was on the way with a knife.
Later that night, police officers went to her home and arrested Low when he arrived at the common corridor of the housing block where she lived. Court documents showed that he was found armed with a penknife, which had a blade measuring about 8.5cm long.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Maximilian Chew sought a fine of between S$6,000 and S$8,000 for Low's offences, stating that even though he did not carry out his threats, a “significant fine” would be necessary when taking into account the severity of his threats.
Mr Chew pointed out that Low had made the threats for over an hour during the argument and the woman was so alarmed that she immediately made a police report.
The judge meted out the maximum fine of S$8,000.
Anyone who commits criminal intimidation can be jailed for up to two years or be fined, or get both punishments.
For threatening to cause death or grievous hurt, Low could have been jailed for up to 10 years or been fined, or both.
