Jail for online stalker who also sent threatening messages

An unemployed man who was infatuated with a car sales consultant became angry after she refused to take a picture with him.

Cheng Yuan Kang, 23, who was out on bail after assaulting a policeman in June 2023, then sent the 30-year-old woman a series of e-mails in October that year. In one of them, he threatened to shoot her with a gun and damage her vehicles.

In January, he saw her working at a Singapore Motorshow 2024 booth at Suntec convention centre.

Cheng became unhappy when she rebuffed him again after he asked her for a photograph.

He then sent multiple threatening messages to the event’s Instagram account.

Among other things, he wrote: “Eurokars is going to be burned down soon by bomb... Tomorrow, I will come and (stab the woman) with a penknife.”

An online search reveals that Eurokars, a car distributor, was involved in the event.

Cheng was sentenced to 18 weeks’ jail on April 15 after he pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including two counts of harassment.

Without revealing details, Deputy Public Prosecutor Dillon Kok said Cheng was earlier placed on probation for such offences in 2018, 2021 and 2022.

For the current case, the court heard that Cheng went to a car show with his parents in April 2023.

His father, 58, then spoke to the car sales consultant over some quotations, and she handed him her business card, which contained information, including her e-mail address.

The woman was unaware that Cheng became infatuated with her, and he started stalking her social media accounts.

On Oct 15, 2023, Cheng and his parents went to a car show at Singapore Expo, and he saw the woman working there. He asked to take a picture with her, but she declined.

Cheng then sent multiple threatening messages to her e-mail account later that day.

He committed a similar offence after she rebuffed him again in January.

In an unrelated case, the court heard that Cheng’s 57-year-old mother has schizophrenia.

On June 5, 2023, his father wanted her to go to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) as she had defaulted on a follow-up appointment.

Cheng threw a tantrum as he did not want her to go to IMH, but his father called a private ambulance to take her there.

The DPP told the court: “When the accused noticed the paramedics’ arrival, he got agitated and started throwing various objects in their direction. The paramedics retreated to the ground floor of the block.”

Cheng went into his home and retrieved items, including two kitchen knives.

He then flung them from a corridor on the eighth storey to the ground floor.

The paramedics alerted the police, and officers arrived at the scene soon after. Cheng was in handcuffs when he kicked a policeman’s left thigh.

DPP Kok said Cheng had been diagnosed with conditions, including autism spectrum disorder and mild intellectual disability.

There was also a contributory link between his psychiatric disorders and his offences.

But he had been found to be an unsuitable candidate for a mandatory treatment order (MTO). Offenders given such an order have to undergo treatment to address their conditions in lieu of time behind bars.

Cheng declined to have MTO as a sentencing option and persistently showed a lack of interest in changing his behaviour.