SINGAPORE: A 20-year-old man took up a challenge from a person on Instagram to burn a poster in a public lift in exchange for S$5.
He set fire to a poster belonging to a town council at a block of flats in Woodlands and later received S$5 from the Instagram user.
However, he also received 18 months’ probation by a court on Wednesday (Mar 8).
Muhamad Haikhal Ramadhan Ash’ari pleaded guilty to one charge of rashly starting a fire that caused damage to property.
The court heard that he was chatting with a person known only as “Haziq” on Instagram at about 2am on May 6 last year. Haziq challenged Haikhal to burn a poster in a public lift for S$5, and Haikhal agreed.
At about 3.30am that same day, Haikhal went into a lift at the void deck of Block 785A Woodlands Rise.
Inside the lift, there was an acrylic holder attached to the wall containing a poster belonging to Sembawang West Zone F Residents’ Network.
Haikhal pulled out the poster partially and set it aflame with his lighter. When he exited the lift, the poster was still burning inside.
The poster was partially burnt and there were burnt marks on the side of the acrylic holder. The lift was not damaged.
Haikhal told Haziq that he had burnt the poster. They met and Haikhal received the promised S$5.
A representative from Sembawang Town Council lodged a police report on the day of the incident.
Haikhal was found suitable for probation and the prosecutor did not object to it. On top of the probation, he will also have to perform 40 hours of community service.
His mother furnished a bond of S$5,000 to ensure his good behaviour during probation.
For rashly starting a fire that caused damage to property, he could have been jailed for up to 18 months, fined, or both.