Boy burned, scarred for life because he teased a girl
A 13-year-old was set on fire by another youth for teasing a
girl
By Elena Chong and K. C. Vijayan
JOHN, 13, lives all wrapped up in a pressure suit that covers him
up to his neck to let his badly-burnt skin heal and keep the
grafted skin from swelling.
-- DESMOND WEE
His 23-year-old brother, who gave up his job as a sales executive
three months ago to care for him, takes him to the Singapore
General Hospital three times a week for therapy to help him move
his hands and legs.
Scars cover John's neck and the upper part of his chest. They keep
his head tilted slightly towards his right shoulder and he can't
lift his head.
His left leg is so scarred that he can walk only for a short
distance and must use a wheelchair. He would have been in Secondary
2 this year, but he can't go to school.
Soh Jia Wen, 16, who set John on fire last Christmas admitted his
guilt in a district court yesterday. He is expected to be sentenced
later this month.
The court heard that Soh, annoyed that his former girlfriend was
being teased by John, threw petrol on him and set him on
fire.
John is not his real name. Under the Children And Young Persons
Act, he cannot be named.
It was at about 10pm last Christmas that the group of young people
met at Sengkang Future Park beside Block 119A Rivervale Drive. John
went up to the girl, put his hand on her shoulder and called her
his girlfriend.
Unhappy, Soh told John not to disturb her. John left but soon came
back. When he said the same thing, Soh told him to 'get
lost'.
They quarrelled and John kicked Soh on the leg.
Soh didn't immediately retaliate.
But at about 11.30pm, he took a bottle of petrol from a friend's
motorised bicycle, splashed its contents on John and set him
alight.
In agony, John screamed and writhed on the ground. Another boy
smothered the flames with his shirt and called an ambulance.
John spent 42 days in hospital with third-degree burns over his
face, neck, body and limbs. More than a third of his body was
burnt. He has had multiple operations and is still being treated,
as an outpatient.
Soh has also admitted to abetting a 15-year-old to pose as a police
officer, stealing $100 from a 14-year-old boy at Kovan MRT Station
on Nov 25 last year, and rioting on March 31 this year.
His lawyer, Mr Pritam Singh Gill, asked for a pre-sentence report
on Soh, whom he described as the youngest of three children of a
couple with marital problems.
In mitigation, he said that Soh was fostered out to live with his
mother's sister until he was 10 and in Primary 5.
Although he returned to live with his family, his parents would
come home very late at night, leaving him free to mix with bad
company.
Five days before the Christmas calamity, Soh was assaulted on the
head by a group at a Pasir Ris chalet. He was very angry and
believed they were jealous of his friendship with his former
girlfriend.
John was also at the chalet though Soh had no proof that he was
involved in the attack, said the lawyer, who gave this version of
what happened on Dec 25:
John and another youth kept trying to chat up the girl and to kiss
her. Soh told John not to harass her but he persisted. Provoked,
Soh grabbed the petrol bottle from the motorised bicycle and threw
it at John.
Soh had a lighter on him and threatened to set him on fire. John
was defiant and responded with vulgarities.
The lawyer said of Soh: 'He was hoping to frighten the victim away,
hoping to stop the victim from harassing them and to go
away.'
Because the pair were so close together, the lighter set John's
petrol-soaked clothes on fire.
Shocked and frightened, Soh couldn't believe what a cruel thing he
had done, the lawyer said.
'He needs rehabilitation and reformation so that he can get back
into society,' said the lawyer, who urged the judge not to throw
Soh 'into the hot cauldron'.
The prosecution has till June 29 to submit a written reply to the
mitigation
