SINGAPORE — A 49-year-old former security officer was today fined S$4,500 for putting hand sanitiser in his then-colleague’s water bottle, claiming that he wanted to clean her mouth as a joke because she liked to gossip about others.
Dilip Kumar Gobind, a Singaporean, pleaded guilty to one charge of committing a rash act with a harmful substance that was likely to cause hurt to Madam Rozanah Yassin, 54.
The pair worked as security officers at Laguna Green Condominium in Bedok during the incident on April 13 last year, the court heard.
Rozanah was on duty when she drank from her water bottle and detected a strong taste of hand sanitiser. She spat it out and felt pain in her throat, before telling the operations officer what had happened.
After reviewing closed-circuit television footage of the guardhouse area, the operations officer saw Dilip putting the sanitiser in Rozanah’s water.
Further investigations revealed that he was on his night shift when he decided to play a prank on her. He took her water bottle, which was half full, and squirted at least two pumps of sanitiser into it.
He knew it belonged to her because he had seen her drinking from it before.
She did not seek medical attention after the incident.
Dilip admitted to doing this because he was unhappy with Rozanah. He claimed that she liked to gossip about other people and wanted to “sanitiser [sic] her mouth” as a joke.
A clinical toxicologist from Changi General Hospital stated in a report that the sanitiser, if swallowed, could cause pain, irritation or damage to the throat, esophagus and stomach.
However, the degree of injury depends on the concentration of the chemicals and the amount ingested. If a diluted solution had been ingested, it was possible for Rozanah to experience the irritation as pain, but it was unlikely to cause serious injury, the toxicologist added.
Antithesis of security officers’ code of conduct
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jason Chua sought a fine of S$1,500 to S$2,000, noting that
Rozanah did not seek medical attention. District Judge Janet Wang said this meant that the extent of her injuries was not conclusive.
The prosecutor also revealed that Dilip had been fined S$11,000 two decades ago for cheating and criminal breach of trust, and fined S$800 in 2011 for wearing garb or carrying a token used by a public servant with fraudulent intent.
In mitigation, Dilip said that he regretted his actions and promised it would never happen again. He also mentioned his ill 83-year-old mother, who would be left alone if he went to prison.
When questioned by the judge, he said that he had called Rozanah to apologise after his actions came to light.
“She said, ‘I don’t wish to speak to you’ and just put down the phone,” he added.
The judge told him that he had committed an egregious act and it was fortuitous that the victim did not require extensive medical intervention.
“While the custodial threshold was not crossed, the court is mindful of the considerable breach of trust between co-workers at the workplace. Particularly, both of you were working in the same premises.
“Your act of wrongdoing is an antithesis of your code of conduct as a security guard. You endangered the personal safety of your colleague,” she added.
Dilip could have been jailed for up to a year or fined up to S$5,000, or punished with both.
John Vijayan Vasavan, president of the Association of Certified Security Agencies (ACSA), said in a statement that the association was “disturbed” by Dilip’s behaviour, calling it “inhuman”.
“ACSA calls on all security officers to escalate their work-related concerns to their supervisors and management, and not take things in their own hands. Such follies have dire consequences,” Vasavan added. — TODAY
