SINGAPORE - A man who pranked his friend with a fake story that he had been a victim of attempted snatch theft ended up with real criminal charges for providing false information to the authorities.
Masewan Edi, 48, lied to police officers after his friend called them to investigate the case. He admitted only later that it was all made up.
On Jan 26, Masewan pleaded guilty to one count of giving false information to a public servant, and was sentenced to 12 days’ jail. Another similar charge was taken into consideration for sentencing.
Court documents said that on April 28, 2023, at around 9.40pm, Masewan called his friend and told him that three unknown Chinese men had confronted him at a Housing Board block in Bukit Batok Central.
One of them had even tried to snatch his sling bag as they walked past him, according to Masewan’s story.
Upon hearing this, his friend rushed down to meet him and called the police.
Police officers arrived at the scene of the “snatch theft” and interviewed Masewan, who repeated the same story. But while describing the incident, Masewan changed his story and said it had happened two weeks prior.
Two or three hours later, he admitted to the police officers that there had been no such incident.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Melissa Heng said: “The accused shared that he had consumed some alcohol prior to the call to (his friend) and merely wanted to prank (him) out of boredom.”
In total, 14 police officers – seven ground response officers, three investigation officers, three strike force officers and one TransCom officer – were activated for the case.
DPP Heng asked for one to two weeks’ imprisonment for Masewan, noting that significant resources were unnecessarily expended.
In court, the prosecutor said Masewan had been jailed previously for theft and fraudulent possession of property, among other offences.
Masewan, who did not have a lawyer, said in court that he was surprised when his friend called the police, as he only meant it as a joke.
He pleaded for leniency and said he is currently providing maintenance for his children.
For giving false information to a public servant, Masewan could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.
