Wife says sorry, but...
Owner demands $18,000
By Crystal Chan
November 23, 2007
THEY caught the person who scratched their Mercedes Benz on video.
The next day they found an apology note on the windscreen. It was
supposedly written by the culprit's wife.
Mr Ang Shuenn Guan with the CCTV system he fixed up in his parents'
flat. Picture: FRANCIS LEE
But that was not good enough for businessman Ang Shuenn Guan, 37,
and his wife.
They made a police report, but were later told that the culprit
would not be charged. Instead, the man received a stern warning
from the police.
Now they are thinking of hiring a lawyer to try to recover the cost
of spray-painting their car. They bought the car last year for
$220,000.
Another neighbour also had his luxury car scratched by the same
person.
The Angs said that they found a 30cm scratch mark on their car in
an open carpark near Block 636, Hougang Avenue 8, on 11 Apr this
year.
They made a police report and then spent $4,500 to install a
closed-circuit camera at Mr Ang's parents' unit. His parents live
on the third floor while his flat is on the seventh.
The culprit struck again a month later. He was captured on camera
but the Angs did not know who he was. They then asked other car
owners in the neighbourhood.
One of them, Mr Lim Chin Seng, said his black BMW had also been
scratched. He, too, installed a video camera in his car to nab the
culprit.
On the police advice, the Angs lodged a magistrate's complaint on 5
Jun. The vandalism was considered an act of mischief and police
cannot arrest the culprit or investigate the case without a
magistrate's authorisation.
On 11 Jun, the couple filmed the man in the act.
When confronted, he initially denied it. But they claimed that he
confessed after being told he had been caught on camera.
Mrs Ang, a clerk, said: 'He immediately apologised and wanted to
settle the matter privately. We didn't want to drop our case as we
had evidence.'
The Angs made their fourth police report the next day and handed
the footage to the police.
Earlier that morning, Mr Ang found the note on his car windscreen.
The couple contacted the wife to ask for compensation of about
$18,000 - $5,400 to spray-paint and $13,000 for renting a Mercedes
S280 for 11 days.
They showed us quotations for the spray-painting and rental.
Mrs Ang said: 'She said she couldn't afford that amount, so it was
a deadlock.'
The Angs put off the spray-painting.
But the culprit did pay Mr Lim's repair bill.
Last month, the police wrote to the Angs saying that the culprit
had been issued a stern warning.
SHOULD HE BE PROSECUTED?
When contacted, a police spokesman said they decided to do this
after consulting with the Attorney-General's Chambers. They
declined to comment on why he was not charged.
Lawyers said this could be because the incident appeared
minor.
Lawyer Singa Retnam said: 'The incident involves private property
so he could have been let off to avoid wasting resources on a
prosecution.'
But lawyer Kirpal Singh feels car owners should be entitled to
legal protection, especially if they leave their cars in a public
place.
When contacted, the culprit's wife said: 'I'm trying to settle this
matter privately and the police have already investigated.
'I'm getting a lawyer to write to the Angs. I don't wish to talk
about this incident anymore.'
