Caught in the act of urinating in Pinnacle@Duxton lift

Tanjong Pagar Town Council puts up posters to stop such behaviour following complaints about urine in one of the lifts back in May.

Pictures showing a woman squatting in a lift and then standing up, with a puddle near her, have been put up at a Pinnacle@Duxton block
Pictures showing a woman squatting in a lift and then standing up, with a puddle near her, have been put up at a Pinnacle@Duxton block . PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
Pictures showing a woman squatting in a lift and then standing up, with a puddle near her, have been put up at a Pinnacle@Duxton block . PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS

The first photo shows the back of a woman in neat attire squatting down in a lift; the second shows the same woman, her hair tied up in a ponytail, in the same spot, but this time with a puddle near her feet in the lift.

The photos were featured in posters put up this week by the Tanjong Pagar Town Council in the void deck of Block 1E at Pinnacle@Duxton, following complaints about urine in one of the lifts back in May.

The youthful-looking woman, whose face is not seen, was caught in the act by surveillance cameras in the lift at 8.22pm on May 23.

"The Town Council has received feedback regarding the stench of urine in the Fireman Lift in Blk 1E... This has caused much inconvenience to residents," read the message in the poster.

The posters and photos are part of what MP Lily Neo (Tanjong Pagar GRC) describes as the town council's "very effective" method of addressing such incidents, and have been employed several times at the Pinnacle@Duxton estate as well as elsewhere in the constituency.

In some previous cases, parents of the culprits came forward to "own up", and later stopped their children from urinating in the lifts, Dr Neo told The Straits Times yesterday.

"In one case it was a 16-year-old boy who would do it every day in the lift, and after we put posters up, the mother owned up and apologised," she said.

The goal is not to shame, but to stop the acts, she stressed.

"We would never show people's faces in the photos used, so only the person committing the act would know it is him or her," she said.

"We're not trying to shame anybody, we put the posters up only in the affected blocks. Our job is not to make trouble, we just want to stop the urination problem."

Once someone owns up and the acts stop - usually within a few days of the photos being put up - the posters come down, added Dr Neo.

The effectiveness of the posters has led residents to "support the town council in addressing this nuisance", she said.

No one has stepped forward so far regarding the latest incident, and little is known about the woman pictured. "Urination in public places still happens from time to time in different areas around Tanjong Pagar, but thankfully it's not that prevalent," said Dr Neo.

"There are some people who just can't control themselves, for instance those with incontinence, but I'm puzzled as to why some others would keep doing so intentionally, such as in the case of this woman. It's very uncomfortable for other residents to come back to the stench every day."

hpeishan@sph.com.sg

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