Man gets nine years' preventive detention for sodomy, other offences

The 46-year-old, who had been sentenced to corrective training twice before, had pleaded guilty to the three charges with two others taken into consideration. PHOTO: ST GRAPHICS

SINGAPORE - A 46-year-old man was slapped with nine years' preventive detention for committing a string of offences at a home.

Besides attacking an auxiliary police officer, Hoe Chay Eng also sodomised a fellow resident at the home and swung a dismantled bed frame at a care executive.

The 46-year-old, who had been sentenced to corrective training twice before, had pleaded guilty to the three charges with two others taken into consideration.

The court heard that Aetos officer Davindran Mohan, 23, was doing his rounds on Oct 27 last year when he advised Hoe to go to the dining hall for daily activities.

Hoe ignored him, but later stood up abruptly and shouted at the officer, challenging him to a fight. He also tried to punch him.

Mr Davindran's colleague heard the commotion and came in to restrain Hoe. Hoe started to kick Mr Davindran, who suffered some scratches as a result.

Hoe was placed in the segregation dormitory.

On Dec 12, Hoe asked a mildly intellectually disabled resident sitting on the floor outside his room to go to the corner of the balcony, where he sodomised him.

The 29-year-old victim had complied as he was scared of Hoe, who was big-sized.

Hoe stopped when an Aetos officer shouted at them.

He admitted that he had committed a similar act with the victim on a prior occasion. He felt good then, and thus repeated the act.

While Hoe was in the segregation dormitory on Dec 27, he dismantled the bed frames in his cell as he felt stressed and lonely after being separated from the other residents.

The home's 57-year-old care executive care noted from the CCTV that Hoe was naked.

He and an Aetos officer entered Hoe's cell to tell him to put on his shorts and clean up the mess he had made.

Hoe became aggressive and swung one of the dismantled bed frames at the care executive, who dodged the attack.

Hoe, who has an antisocial personality disorder and mild intellectual disability, had been in and out of prison for a variety of offences such as theft, outrage of modesty and fraudulent possession since 1989.

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