SINGAPORE: In what is believed to be the first such
case here, a disgruntled former SingTel associate engineer has
pleaded guilty to mischief for cutting its fibre optic cables after
his employment was terminated.
Terrance Tan Khoon Shan's actions resulted in
thousands of households being unable to connect to the Internet,
receive television broadcasts and make telephone
calls.
The 34-year-old pleaded guilty on Monday to 60
charges of mischief which caused more than $S185,000 worth of
damage.
The district court heard that Tan joined SingTel in August 2009 to
work in the "Fibre to the Home" project, an initiative aimed at
providing ultra-high speed Internet connections to end users. His
employment was, however, terminated last September.
Tan then plotted to sabotage his supervisors by damaging equipment
known as "Fibre Splicing Boxes".
Deputy Public Prosecutor Sanjiv Vaswani said the boxes are located
at HDB blocks and the cables are found in them. The boxes are
secured with a locking mechanism and the keys are usually left on
top of the boxes for contractors.
Tan found a set of keys in Clementi and discovered that the keys
could operate the locking mechanism of similar boxes.
The DPP pressed for a "substantial custodial sentence" of three
years. In mitigation, Tan, who was unrepresented, told the court
that he had "succumbed to emotions" after he left SingTel. He added
he "has nothing against SingTel".
Tan will be back in court on August 23.
-- TODAY
