Ganesan Shanmugam, 30-years-old, an Indian national who worked as an aircon repairman, pleaded guilty to one count of negligently causing a fire.
He had reportedly thrown a cigarette butt into a rubbish area, resulting in a fire erupting.
He was sentenced on 22 July to 10 days imprisonment.
What happened?
Shanmugam was tasked to perform a night shift maintenance work at Ang Mo Kio Police Division HQ with a colleage.
He suddenly felt the urge to smoke but found it inconvenient to head outside to smoke as it was raining at the time, so he decided to smoke outside the main switch room instead.
He finished smoking and threw the cigarette butt into the vicinity where there were many rubbish, including cardboard boxes.
He had thought that his cigarette butt had been extinguished but didn’t check.
He then went to a nearby storeroom to rest but his colleague realised there was a fire nearby after a bout 20 minutes.
They then went to the area where Shanmugam was smoking and saw the fire, before they put the fire out with fire extinguishers and cleaned the area.
A police officer smelled something burning and the police and firefighters then arrived at the location.
Shanmugam did not deny that he played a part in the fire erupting.
The fire caused damage to the wall, ceiling, floor and air-conditioning fittings; which cost $513.17 to repair.
Shanmugam will begin serving his jail term on Monday.
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