A man who allegedly held his girlfriend's two-year-old son hostage in a Sembawang flat was taken to court yesterday.

Muhammad Iskandah Suhaimi, 39, whose alleged actions resulted in a 17-hour stand-off with police, was also charged with having a knuckle duster without permission.

District Judge Christopher Goh granted the police prosecutor's request for Iskandah to be remanded for psychiatric evaluation at the Institute of Mental Health during police investigations regarding his possible involvement in other crimes.

The case will be mentioned again on Oct 14.

Iskandah was arrested at around noon on Wednesday, after policemen broke into the fifth-floor flat in Block 462, Sembawang Drive.

Several officers entered the unit through its windows.

Police said the arrest was for wrongful confinement of a two- year-old boy and suspected drug- related offences.

Iskandah had reportedly fought with the boy's mother and then locked himself inside the flat with the youngster on Tuesday night.

Police activated the Crisis Negotiation Unit and Special Operations Command, while the Singapore Civil Defence Force dispatched its Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team, among other resources.

The boy was not harmed and has been placed in the custody of the Ministry of Social and Family Development. His mother has also been arrested for suspected drug- related offences.

The punishment for unlawful possession of a weapon is a jail term of up to five years, with at least six strokes of the cane for the first conviction. The penalty for subsequent convictions is a jail term of between two and eight years, with at least six strokes of the cane.

Under the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act, all kinds of knuckle dusters are considered as weapons.

Amir Hussain