8-8-( SINGAPORE) In a recent court ruling on Monday, a man in Singapore was fined S$4,000 (US$2,976) for unlawfully confining nine former colleagues in an office for approximately one hour. The perpetrator, identified as Vict Lim Siong Hock, 52, pleaded guilty to one count of wrongful confinement. Another charge of sending an abusive message to an ex-colleague was taken into consideration during the trial.
The court proceedings revealed that Lim had accepted a position as a driver and logistics assistant at an electronics company located in Pantech Business Hub in late May 2022. He officially began working for the company on July 1, 2022, with his working hours typically spanning from 8 am to 4:30 pm or 5 pm, including a one-hour lunch break.
However, Lim’s employment was abruptly terminated on August 30, 2022, before he could complete his probationary period. Following his dismissal, Lim purchased a padlock from a hardware shop, indicating his intentions to lock the entrance – the sole access point to his former workplace. His resentment towards the termination motivated this action.
On September 1, 2022, at approximately 2:20 pm, Lim arrived at the office and used the padlock to secure the entrance door. He believed that his ex-colleagues were on their lunch breaks and assumed that they had all left the premises. However, unbeknownst to Lim, the lunch breaks were staggered, ensuring that at least one employee would be present in the office at any given time, as pointed out by the prosecutor.
Approximately ten minutes after Lim locked the door, an employee attempted to leave the office to use the restroom but found himself unable to do so. Realizing that the door had been locked from the outside, he promptly informed his colleagues about the situation. As a result, a total of nine employees found themselves trapped inside the office.
The stranded employees sought assistance from a colleague working in another part of the building, who verified that the entrance door had indeed been padlocked. Subsequently, the company’s owner engaged the services of a locksmith, paying around S$80, to remove the padlock later that day. The owner then proceeded to file a police report against Lim the same evening.
The entire incident was captured on closed-circuit television footage, providing clear evidence of Lim’s actions.
The charge of wrongful confinement carries a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both, under Singaporean law.
