A 49-year-old man was arrested for his suspected involvement in a case of voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty and criminal intimidation on Jan. 24, 2024.

Prior to his arrest, the man barricaded himself inside a residential unit in Block 462 Sembawang Drive, together with a 52-year-old woman, said the Singapore Police Force in a news release.

What happened

The police said they were alerted to the case at around 9:15pm on Jan. 23.

Officers from the Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU), Special Operations Command (SOC), and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) were also called in, after the police assessed that the man might pose a danger to himself and others.

After around three hours of negotiation by CNU officers, the police saw an opportunity to breach the unit when they observed that the woman went to the toilet, buying them time to ensure her safety.

The unit was successfully breached at around 1:15am on Jan. 24, and the man was arrested.

Scheduled to be charged on Jan. 25

As the man allegedly kicked a police officer during his arrest, he will be charged in court on Jan. 25 for the offence of voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from the discharge of his duty.

The offence carries an imprisonment term of up to seven years and a fine, or caning.

Police investigations into the offence of criminal intimidation are ongoing.

If convicted, the man could be jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.

Similar incident took place in same HDB block previously

Approximately eight years ago, on Sep. 27, 2016, the police were alerted to a similar incident where a 39-year-old man had locked himself and a 2-year-old boy in a unit.

The CNU was activated to negotiate for the safe release of the boy, and SOC officers were also deployed in the event there was a need for forced entry.

After a 17-hour standoff, at around 12:03pm on Sep. 28, 2016, SOC officers broke the windows and rescued the boy.

Subsequently, upon cutting the front gate of the unit, the authorities arrested the man for wrongful confinement, possession of scheduled weapon, and drug-related offences.

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