SINGAPORE – Just five months after his early release from prison, a man who was earlier jailed for housebreaking committed a string of vandalistic acts and wrote obscenity-laced messages that insulted Malays.

Chen Jianbang, 31, was sentenced on Monday (June 17) to 13 months’ jail and nine strokes of the cane.

The Singaporean pleaded guilty to two counts of deliberately wounding the racial feelings of others and three charges under the Vandalism Act. Twelve other charges for similar offences were considered during sentencing.

Chen must also spend an additional 60 days behind bars as he had breached a remission order after his early release from prison in August last year. In November 2017, he was sentenced to a year and nine months’ jail for housebreaking.

As part of the order, he was not supposed to commit any more offences between Aug 4 last year and March 4 this year.

However, the court heard that on Jan 3, Chen went to Lai Ming Hotel in Geylang Road where he used a permanent blue marker to write “Dave is sick” on an exterior wall panel of the building. Court documents did not reveal any details about “Dave”.

His act was captured on a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera at the hotel.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Shen Wanqin told District Judge John Ng that a policewoman patrolling the Geylang area the next day spotted similar-looking graffiti on several other walls.

She alerted her colleagues, stating: “Spread of vandalism discovered from Lorong 24 Geylang onwards.”

Chen continued defacing items such as walls and pillars with blue ink.

In one such incident, he went to an area outside Aljunied MRT station at around 2.30am on Jan 7 and scrawled onto a banner a message that insulted Malays.

About five hours later, an MRT passenger told a station master that the banner owned by the Land Transport Authority had been vandalised. The station master then alerted the police, said DPP Shen.

“He wrote the said writings with the deliberate intention of wounding the racial feelings of the Malay population. His act was captured by the CCTV camera installed at the said station,” she said, adding that the replacement banner cost $240.

Chen was arrested at 4.45pm the same day.

The authorities also seized from him items such as a blue permanent marker, three tops and a pair of jeans.

On Monday, the DPP urged Judge Ng to sentence Chen to 14 months’ jail, nine strokes of the cane and an additional 61 days behind bars for breaching the remission order.

She said: “The accused chose to inscribe racially-charged words onto private and public property, thereby allowing the words to be viewed repeatedly over a period of time.”

For each count of vandalism, offenders can be fined up to $2,000 or jailed up to three years as well as receive between three and eight strokes of the cane.

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