Last July a row erupted among residents of Laguna Park over whether the condominium should be sold en bloc.
Lee Kok Leong, 62, former chairman of its management committee, who was a proponent of the sale, was caught on closed-circuit television camera inserting super glue into the keyholes of the padlock, front and rear gates of Yap Cher Sim’s apartment at Block 5000E on August 25 last year. For that, he was fined S$800.
That same day, he did the same thing to another apartment in the same block, belonging to Alice Elizabeth Rappa. That resulted in another S$400 fine.
Yap and Rappa were opponents of the sale.
Lee could also have been jailed up to a year for the offences, on top of being fined.
Lee has paid for the damage he caused to his neighbors’ property, amounting to about S$600.
But no, he had not apologized to them, he told the press on Tuesday. And no, he had no regrets about what he had done.
“What’s there to regret? What’s done is done. I am not remorseful.”
Arms folded as he sat in the dock on Tuesday, he told reporters: “Fine, then fine lah. After all, I can afford it. I can spend S$4,000 in one night on karaoke.”
The court case is not the end of the mischief that has plagued Laguna Park residents. Larry Chan filed a police report after he found his mailbox forced open, its metal flap bent, and all the mail removed two weeks ago.
Asked if he knew about the recent vandalism acts in his condominium, Lee shrugged his shoulders and said: “Yes I heard about it. But it’s none of my business.”
Lee should thank his lucky stars that he lives in this country of law-abiding citizens. If this was say, Thailand, he would have been fish food by now.