A man in Singapore returned home in the middle of the night and found that his wife wasn’t home, he then called her on the phone and they started arguing with each other.
Upset after the fight, he then took a can of hairspray and lighter, set his wife’s wardrobe and clothes on fire and video-called her, threatening to burn the house down.
The man, 33-year-old Muhammad Haikal Masai, pleaded guilty to his offences on 14 February to one count of rashly causing a fire.
He works as an operations manager and lives in a flat in Tampines with his 47-year-old wife.
The incident took place on 27 February 2022 at about 2am; Haikal called his wife and showed her the fire and threatened to burn down the house.
His wife then called the SCDF for help.
Haikal realised that the fire was getting out of hand and rushed to the kitchen to get some water, and he managed to extinguish the fire before the arrival of the firefighters.
Officers from the Singapore Police Force and the SCDF arrived at the scene and found a badly burnt wardrobe and his wife’s burnt clothes, with the estimated cost of damage being between $1,000 to $2,000.
Haikal is set to return to court later this month for his mitigation and sentencing, and if convicted, he faces a jail term of up to 18 months and/or a fine.