SINGAPORE - A man accused of trespassing on the premises of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary last year and defacing a statue of Mary was acquitted of all charges in a district court on Monday (Jan 11).

The police on Tuesday told The Straits Times that Race Koh Jun Xian, 38, was given a stern warning after consultations with the Attorney-General's Chambers.

Koh was charged on Nov 20 last year with one count of each of criminal trespass and defiling a place of worship with intent to insult a religion, and was ordered to be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health.

He was found to have an extensive history of substance use disorder, but was not assessed to be of unsound mind at the time of the offence.

The incident happened on Nov 12 last year. Police received a report that the statue in the courtyard of the Catholic church in Upper Serangoon Road had been defaced.
The church was closed for renovation works at the time.

Investigations showed that Koh had climbed a fence and used "Blu Tack" to stick marbles where the statue's eyes are.

He was identified after officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division conducted ground investigations and viewed footage from closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

"The man claimed that he had wanted to pray to the statue and intended to beautify it out of gratitude," said the police. He did not think he was defiling it.

"No permanent damage was done to the statue by the man's act. A stern warning was thus given, taking into consideration the overall context of the offences, and taking into account the period of remand served," said the police.

In a Facebook post last year, the church said that the statue, a gift from Sultan Ibrahim of Johor more than 70 years ago, has been restored.