Teen led Boys’ Home ruckus to enter reformative training together
A teen instigated other youths at the Singapore Boys' Home in Jurong West to create a ruckus so they would be sentenced to a term of reformative training together.
For his role in the ruckus and causing damage to the home, one of the other youths involved was sentenced to at least 12 months of reformative training last Friday.
The 16-year-old was identified in court documents only as B7.
The ringleader of the group of seven youths, referred to in court documents as B1, had returned to the home on Sept 10, after he had been remanded at Changi Prison for a week.
He had been held to assess his suitability for reformative training, after pleading guilty to vandalising the home.
Back at the home, he met three other youth offenders and they came up with a plan to be carried out that night to attract the full attention of the staff, the court heard.
The plan involved flipping the mattresses on their beds, jumping on the bed frames, and tying their blankets together to pull down the television and fan from the wall.
The group of four also threw their belongings out of the dormitories, broke the toilet sink and shouted at the top of their voices, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh.
Upon hearing the ruckus, three other youths, including B7, joined in.
One took a soap bottle from the shower and threw it at the wall-mounted TV in the dormitory, cracking the screen.
Meanwhile, B7 shouted loudly and jumped on a bed. He also threw his slippers repeatedly against a TV in another dormitory, cracking the screen.
A total of 97 police officers were activated, after a member of the public called 999 to report a possible riot at the home, said DPP Koh.
The teenagers' actions resulted in damages totalling $3,621.40, he added.
That was not all. Two days later, B7 and another teen decided they would need to create more havoc in order to be transferred to reformative training to join their ringleader.
ROPE
Housed in a room to separate them from other residents in the home, both teens tied their towels, shirts and pants together to form a makeshift rope to pull a ceiling fan to the ground, causing the fan cover to break.
B7 kicked a pipe in the toilet, causing it to break and water to flow onto the floor, and threw a pipe head at two ceiling lights, breaking the light covers.
They then banged on the door of their room to create as much noise as possible.
Both of them were arrested by the police.
Damage caused by the duo amounted to $850, said DPP Koh.
Four of the other youths have also been sentenced to undergo reformative training, while the remaining cases are still pending.
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