Ang Mo Kio HDB resident finds blood-stained sanitary pads on aircon ledge every month, seeks authorities' help

"Very disgusting."

December 03, 2024, 05:25 PM

It's like clockwork, every month for the past six months.

That's the experience of a man staying in a Housing Development Board (HDB) flat at Ang Mo Kio, who has seen blood-stained sanitary napkins thrown onto his air-conditioning ledge outside his window.

According to Shin Min Daily News (Shin Min), Zheng (transliteration from Chinese), 61, discovered that one of the residents of Block 623 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 9 frequently tosses used sanitary napkins out the window, calling the practice it "very disgusting".

Zheng told the news outlet that this used to happen occasionally, but has happened every month since March 2024.

"The sanitary napkins fall on the air-conditioning compressor outside my bedroom window and can be seen as soon as I open the window," he said.

He added that the bloodied sanitary napkins would sometimes fall on the plants he hangs outside his house, or on the air-conditioning compressors of his neighbours next door and on lower floors.

Zheng noted that he now does not dare to open his bedroom window because he fears the sanitary napkins will fall into his room.

The whole situation left him angry, so he reported the matter to his town council and the National Environment Agency (NEA) and filed a police report, Shin Min stated.

Man's likely suspect denies involvement

Zheng told Shin Min that he believes the culprit is a neighbour's granddaughter.

He speculated that the granddaughter throws the sanitary napkin directly out the toilet window.

Shin Min visited the neighbour, who said her granddaughter lives in her unit, but packs the sanitary napkins in plastic bags and would not throw them out the window.

Enforcement action against high-rise littering

From 2021 to 2023, NEA investigated about 29,000 instances of high-rise littering feedback annually.

Over the same period, NEA deployed an average of 2,500 cameras a year.

In around 1,100 cases each year, enforcement actions were conducted against persons caught for high-rise littering.

Presumption clause

The law also has a presumption clause regarding high-rise littering.

If it is proven that littering was committed in a residential flat, the registered owners or unit's tenants will be presumed guilty of the offence unless proven otherwise.

The owner or tenant can rebut this presumption clause for littering from residential flats by proving that he/she was not present in the flat at the time of the offence and, thus, proving that he/she could not have been the offender.

Alternatively, he/she may provide the identity of a person reasonably believed to be the offender.

NEA said the presumption clause places "a greater onus on registered owners and tenants of residential flats to prevent littering from their flats."

In June 2024, two individuals involved in separate cases were convicted for high-rise littering under the presumption clause.