S'porean woman, 54, keeps starting fires, padlocks neighbour's gate, sets fire to it, threatens to stab him, gets 5 years & 3 months jail

A 54-year-old Singaporean woman, who lived in an Ang Mo Kio public housing block flat and kept setting fire to her neigbours' front gates, was on Feb. 13 sentenced to five years and three months’ jail.

She pleaded guilty to three counts of committing mischief with fire and one count of criminal intimidation.

Kept starting fires

Linda Leong Sok Koon started fires at three areas at her block at Block 318 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 on separate occasions.

In two of those incidents, she set fire to the front gates of two neighbours' flats in the block, who lived on the same floor as her.

The court heard that she has schizophrenia and antisocial personality disorder.

First victim

On Mar. 18, 2025, some time before 7:30am, Leong set fire to a towel on the metal gate and wooden door of a flat occupied by the first victim, a 63-year-old man.

Another man walked past the unit later that morning and noticed that the door and gate were burnt.

He alerted the occupant and a police report was lodged.

Second victim

Two days later on Mar. 20, Leong set fire to a mattress at a lift lobby of the block at around 11:50pm.

A 66-year-old man, who lived in the block, noticed the smoke along the common corridor.

The resident, who had been sleeping, put out the fire with pails of water from other residents.

Firefighters and police officers later arrived at the scene.

The fire damaged the wall, the ceiling, and the tiled floor at the common corridor.

A 20-year-old woman, named as the second victim in court documents, inhaled smoke and later complained of a shortness of breath.

She was taken to the Singapore General Hospital in the early hours of Mar. 21, 2025 and was discharged at around 2:30am that day.

Leong also used a wrench to damage a neighbour's water pipe along the corridor that night, causing a leak.

Police arrested her on Mar. 21, 2025, and she was released on bail that day.

Third victim

But Leong reoffended less than a month later on Apr. 11, 2025, some time before 5:30am.

She went to another resident's flat and used her own padlock to secure the gate to stop the 46-year-old man inside from escaping.

She then started a fire using items, such as a blanket, towels, a banana, a soft toy, and a set of bedsheets, which were placed outside the gate.

The man inside opened the door after Leong banged on it.

She then found out that this third victim had alerted the police.

She pointed a knife at him and said: “You come out, and I will stab you.”

Leong used the sharp edge of the knife to hit the metal gate.

The knife's blade eventually broke.

The court heard that the man had never had a dispute nor interacted with Leong before this incident.

Leong was arrested at around 6:30am on Apr. 11, 2025, and has been in remand since then.

Top photo via Shin Min Daily News