SINGAPORE, June 15 — She broke off her intimate relationship with Gabriel Heng Jing Heng because she felt that he was very possessive, but he soon began stalking and threatening her through text messages and calls.
One day, he showed up at her flat and threw a packet of coffee at the door when no one responded to his knocks. He then told her that he would burn her whole family alive if she married her boyfriend.
The stalking lasted for more than a year. When he was charged and released on bail, he assaulted his grandmother who had provided his bail but declined his request for a loan.
He also threatened to burn down her house and kill his maternal aunt.
Heng, now aged 26, was jailed for one-and-a-half years and fined S$3,000 (RM9.305) today.
He will begin serving his sentence on July 13 to allow him time to settle some personal affairs, and remains out on bail.
The Singaporean pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal intimidation, as well as one charge each of unlawful stalking, mischief and voluntarily causing hurt. Another nine similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
How it began
The court heard that the victim of his stalking, now aged 24, got to know Heng in 2016. They did not date but had an intimate relationship.
She cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity.
Heng stalked her from July 2018 to September 2019, insulting and degrading her through vulgarities and demanding her to act according to his wishes. He also showed up at her house many times.
She had decided to end things with him in December 2017. However, he grew unhappy and continued to contact her, so she relented and kept in contact with him.
He frequently demanded to meet her, using vulgarities and threats — either verbally or in text messages — if she refused.
She began ignoring him from July 27, 2018. Within a few days, she received more than 100 missed calls from him.
He then told her that he could not control himself any longer and that if he did not see her at 9pm that day, he would burn down her house.
He added that if she continued to ignore him, he would slash her mother when she opened the door. He also said that he would make sure one of her family members would be killed.
To support his threat, he sent her a photograph of himself in a car, saying that he had taken a private-hire Grab ride and was on the way to her place.
She eventually blocked him on the WhatsApp and Telegram messaging applications.
She also moved out of the house in August 2018 in order to avoid him, staying with another relative until January 2019.
He persistently sent her threatening text messages such as “You be prepared for a lifetime of violence until you manage to hide forever”.
‘I make sure you kneel down and beg’
On July 25, 2019, Heng used another mobile number to contact her.
When she ignored him, he told her that he would kill her, her mother and boyfriend and that he would “go to (her) place to trigger a response”.
Court documents showed that among the many text messages he sent her, one read: “I make sure you kneel down on the floor and beg again. I make sure I turn your whole life upside down.”
On the same day, at about 4pm, he knocked on her door but got no response. He then threw the coffee at the door before leaving.
Footage of this incident was captured by a closed-circuit television camera that her family had installed.
Heng then told her in a message, “Hope your mum enjoyed (the) coffee”, and said that he would go over again the next day with someone else.
He was charged two days later and released on bail provided by his 73-year-old grandmother, but breached his bail conditions by sending his victim more text messages using his friend’s mobile phone.
After she blocked him on Telegram, he texted her through WhatsApp and sent her photographs from her and her boyfriend’s Instagram accounts.
In late October 2019, Heng went over to his grandmother’s house and asked her for money to hire a lawyer.
She declined and in the course of their argument, he told her that he would burn down her house before punching her shoulder.
She then discharged herself of her responsibilities as his bailor.
In other unrelated incidents, Heng assaulted a colleague while working as a valet driver, and also tussled with another driver in the Bukit Timah area. He taunted the second victim to fight with him.
Mental disorders have no contributory link
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Regina Lim sought at least 22 months’ jail and a fine, noting that while Heng had mental disorders, there was no clear evidence that they contributed to his offences.
A psychiatrist from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) found that his past history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was unlikely to have been the main contributing factor.
His father also said that he felt his son was “riding on” and “making use of his condition to excuse his misconduct”.
DPP Lim further noted that Heng had committed one-third of his offences while out on bail.
In mitigation, his lawyers — Josephus Tan and Cory Wong from Invictus Law Corporation — told the court that he had been exempted from National Service due to his mental condition.
He reportedly tried to self-harm several times in his teenage years and was diagnosed with substance use disorder.
In sentencing Heng, District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt took into account the two-month period that he was remanded in IMH.
For each charge of criminal intimidation, he could have been jailed for up to two years or fined, or both.
For unlawful stalking, he could have been jailed up to a year or fined up to S$5,000, or both. — TODAY
