Man who set fire to cable boxes back in court
SINGAPORE – Believing that residents on the 11th floor of Block 9 Haig Road were “not friendly” towards him, Faris Muhammad Abdul Aziz decided to set fire to a cable box located there.
At about 7.45pm on May 9, he used a lighter to set fire to an OpenNet Fibre Optic cable box on the 11th storey.
Moving one level down, the 26-year-old attempted to repeat the act. This time, two policemen saw smoke and nabbed him. Faris — who, according to an Institute of Mental Health (IMH) report, has mild intellectual ability — was back in court today (Sept 30) for further mention of his case. Apart from the May 9 fire, investigations showed that Faris had also set fire to the cable boxes on the 6th, 8th and 9th storeys of the same block on three separate occasions between May 5 and 8.
On July 24 last year, Faris had also set fire to several discarded items at the staircase landing on the 10th storey of Block 71 Circuit Road, next to the block where he is staying.
In all, he had faced six charges of committing mischief by fire, but only two were proceeded with. Faris had earlier pleaded guilty to the charges.
During today’s hearing, District Judge Brenda Tan, taking into account the IMH report, called for a probation suitability report to be submitted. Faris will return to court on Oct 28.
