Boy burned, scarred for life because he teased a girl
A 13-year-old was set on fire by another youth for teasing a girl
By Elena Chong and K. C. Vijayan
JOHN, 13, lives all wrapped up in a pressure suit that covers him up to his neck to let his badly-burnt skin heal and keep the grafted skin from swelling.
-- DESMOND WEE
His 23-year-old brother, who gave up his job as a sales executive three months ago to care for him, takes him to the Singapore General Hospital three times a week for therapy to help him move his hands and legs.
Scars cover John's neck and the upper part of his chest. They keep his head tilted slightly towards his right shoulder and he can't lift his head.
His left leg is so scarred that he can walk only for a short distance and must use a wheelchair. He would have been in Secondary 2 this year, but he can't go to school.
Soh Jia Wen, 16, who set John on fire last Christmas admitted his guilt in a district court yesterday. He is expected to be sentenced later this month.
The court heard that Soh, annoyed that his former girlfriend was being teased by John, threw petrol on him and set him on fire.
John is not his real name. Under the Children And Young Persons Act, he cannot be named.
It was at about 10pm last Christmas that the group of young people met at Sengkang Future Park beside Block 119A Rivervale Drive. John went up to the girl, put his hand on her shoulder and called her his girlfriend.
Unhappy, Soh told John not to disturb her. John left but soon came back. When he said the same thing, Soh told him to 'get lost'.
They quarrelled and John kicked Soh on the leg.
Soh didn't immediately retaliate.
But at about 11.30pm, he took a bottle of petrol from a friend's motorised bicycle, splashed its contents on John and set him alight.
In agony, John screamed and writhed on the ground. Another boy smothered the flames with his shirt and called an ambulance.
John spent 42 days in hospital with third-degree burns over his face, neck, body and limbs. More than a third of his body was burnt. He has had multiple operations and is still being treated, as an outpatient.
Soh has also admitted to abetting a 15-year-old to pose as a police officer, stealing $100 from a 14-year-old boy at Kovan MRT Station on Nov 25 last year, and rioting on March 31 this year.
His lawyer, Mr Pritam Singh Gill, asked for a pre-sentence report on Soh, whom he described as the youngest of three children of a couple with marital problems.
In mitigation, he said that Soh was fostered out to live with his mother's sister until he was 10 and in Primary 5.
Although he returned to live with his family, his parents would come home very late at night, leaving him free to mix with bad company.
Five days before the Christmas calamity, Soh was assaulted on the head by a group at a Pasir Ris chalet. He was very angry and believed they were jealous of his friendship with his former girlfriend.
John was also at the chalet though Soh had no proof that he was involved in the attack, said the lawyer, who gave this version of what happened on Dec 25:
John and another youth kept trying to chat up the girl and to kiss her. Soh told John not to harass her but he persisted. Provoked, Soh grabbed the petrol bottle from the motorised bicycle and threw it at John.
Soh had a lighter on him and threatened to set him on fire. John was defiant and responded with vulgarities.
The lawyer said of Soh: 'He was hoping to frighten the victim away, hoping to stop the victim from harassing them and to go away.'
Because the pair were so close together, the lighter set John's petrol-soaked clothes on fire.
Shocked and frightened, Soh couldn't believe what a cruel thing he had done, the lawyer said.
'He needs rehabilitation and reformation so that he can get back into society,' said the lawyer, who urged the judge not to throw Soh 'into the hot cauldron'.
The prosecution has till June 29 to submit a written reply to the mitigation
