SINGAPORE, Aug 16 — Believing to have seen bed bugs, an elderly man sprayed them with insecticide to try to kill them, then set his mattress on fire when this did not work.
The fire he started soon engulfed the unit and the smoke drifted to the upper floor, causing the death of a domestic worker.
Chia Gek Yong, 73, cried as he pleaded guilty today to causing death by committing a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide. He is set to return to court on Sept 11 for sentencing.
The court heard that on the day of the incident, Chia had suffered a relapse of his bipolar disorder. This resulted in him experiencing symptoms such as increased energy levels and hallucination, causing him to act dangerously.
What happened
On the early morning of Jan 29 last year, Chia woke up from his bed in the living room of a 10th floor housing unit that he shared with four other occupants.
Claiming that he had to kill the bed bugs he saw on his bed, Chia took several insecticide cans he had on his bed to spray the mattress.
Despite this, Chia claimed that the bed bugs were still not dead and he went on to use several lighters to set his mattress on fire, said Deputy Public Prosecutor R Arvindren.
When the fire started spreading, Chia tried to use water to put out the flames but was unsuccessful.
He then left his unit.
The other four occupants in the house were awoken by the smoke and they quickly evacuated the unit.
One of them went to a nearby coffee shop and took a fire extinguisher to try to put out the blaze, but he was unsuccessful as the fire started to engulf the entire unit.
The police and Singapore Civil Defence Force officers soon arrived and they evacuated the entire block.
The firefighters faced two stumbling blocks: The unit’s occupants had hoarded various items that contributed to the fire becoming bigger, and there was also a gas leak.
Chia later admitted to a police officer at the scene that he was the one who started the fire.
He was arrested on the same day.
As firefighting efforts continued, the smoke from the blaze grew thicker and drifted to the unit above.
Firefighters had to break into a locked 11th floor unit after they were informed of an occupant who was not accounted for.
They found a woman, 48-year-old domestic worker Koimatun Achmad Ali, unconscious in a room next to the kitchen.
She was taken to the hospital alive, but died hours later at around 10.30pm.
An autopsy report by the Health Sciences Authority stated that her cause of death was due to smoke inhalation.
Court documents did not state her nationality while the flat’s location was redacted.
Call for mandatory treatment order report
In light of the findings from a psychiatric report submitted by the defence, the prosecution stated that they would not object to a call for a mandatory treatment order suitability report.
A mandatory treatment order is a community sentencing option offered to offenders suffering from mental conditions that contributed to the offence.
The psychiatric report, dated March 10 this year, stated that Chia was suffering from a long term bipolar disorder and had been seeking treatment from the Institute of Mental Health prior to his offence.
It also stated that Chia’s behaviour at the time of the incident was also unusual and that his actions were part of his manic episode, which led to impulsive and dangerous behaviour.
Agreeing with the prosecution, defence counsel Riko Chua Isaac said that Chia has expressed deep remorse over the incident and deeply regrets the death of Koimatun.
Isaac added that Chia had been suffering from bipolar disorder since a very young age and there is no suggestion that he started the fire to specifically harm the victim.
For causing death by a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide, Chia can be jailed up to five years, fined or both. — TODAY
