A man in Singapore landed himself in jail after he pleaded guilty to stealing several items which belonged to a suicide victim.
Along with the theft, he also admitted to throwing away a suicide note written by the victim as well as resetting the dead man’s phones.
Found suicide victim lifeless at HDB block
According to CNA, the incident occurred on Aug 12, 2023 at around 1.20pm, where 52-year-old Ng Hoe Ghee found the victim lying lifeless with injuries to his face and body at a HDB block while passing by.
Ng then used a piece of cardboard to retrieve the victim’s wallet, which had fallen nearby and later handed it to the police, who arrived at the scene after receiving a call about the incident.
Paramedics pronounced the 22-year-old victim dead at the scene and investigations revealed that the victim was visiting a relative while carrying a black haversack bag and leapt to his death not long after.
Steals suicide victim’s bag, discards suicide note
Ng, who wanted to know which floor the victim had jumped off from, climbed to the HDB building’s 15th floor and stumbled upon the victim’s haversack bag while taking the stairs, where he took and hid inside a box outside his father’s flat.
The following day, Ng rummaged through the bag and saw that it contained a laptop, notebooks, two mobile phones, and a suicide note.
In the note, victim wrote that he was “feeling pain and was struggling with his belief and faith” as well as being “haunted by something or someone”.
Ng then threw the suicide note away and paid someone S$70 (approx. RM248) to unlock the password-protected mobile phones by doing a factory reset.
Crossed paths with police
Prior to his eventual brush with the police, Ng used the victim’s phone and carried the haversack bag with him at all times.
Due to his actions, police were unable to carry out investigations effectively and tried contacting Ng. A police gazette was then issued against him when they couldn’t locate him.
On Sept 7, Ng was found by patrol officers in Jurong East and conducted a routine check on him, where they realised he had a police gazette filed against him.
He was referred to an investigating officer handling the suicide case and returned the victim’s haversack bag.
However, police lost crucial pieces of evidence due to Ng’s discarding of the suicide note and resetting of the mobile phones.
SG man jailed 4 months for stealing items belonging to suicide victim
In court yesterday (Jan 7), Ng pleaded guilty to a charge of dishonest misappropriation of a deceased person’s property and another charge of dishonest misappropriation of property.
He was handed a jail sentence of four months and four weeks for his actions.
In mitigation, Ng apologised for what he did and said he was experiencing financial difficulties.
He also said he threw the suicide note away as he felt its contents weren’t something the public should know.
READ ALSO:
