Four weeks’ jail for senior who defaced bus stops over CPF

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http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/four-weeks-jail-senior-who-defaced-bus-stops-over-cpf

An elderly man who used an indelible black marker to deface public and private property — by scribbling words that appeared to be in support of blogger Roy Ngerng — was yesterday sentenced to four weeks’ jail.

Loh Thiam Hock, 71, was originally charged with vandalism, but had his charges amended to mischief.

The State Courts heard yesterday that Loh had read a newspaper article relating to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) on May 21.

He decided to go on a writing spree, scribbling indiscriminately on private and public property, such as the advertisement boards of bus stops and an electrical box in the Clarke Quay area, from about 2.35pm to 7pm on May 22.

He had used the black marker to write phrases such as “We support CPF Blogger, Return our CPF Money R/AC & M A/C, Above 65 yrs Bal $5000 in M/AC” (sic).

Loh, who was unrepresented and spoke through a Hokkien interpreter, said he is unemployed and picks up tin cans as a rag-and-bone man. “I do not know why I did this on that day. I’ve already thrown the pen away because it ran out of ink,” he said, referring to the events of May 22.

“I’ve (nowhere) to reside in the past 10 years, I’ve been wandering the streets,” added Loh, who lost his mother at the age of eight.