SINGAPORE — The authorities have withdrawn two charges against a 37-year-old man accused of defacing a statue in a Hougang church last year, after police investigations found that he did not intend to defile it and no permanent damage was done.

The police, in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, have instead issued a stern warning to Mr Race Koh Jun Xian, the Singapore Police Force told TODAY in response to queries.

Such warnings are issued to offenders in lieu of prosecution at various stages of criminal proceedings, such as during investigations or after they are charged.

Mr Koh was acquitted in the State Courts on Monday (Jan 11) of one count each of criminal trespass and defiling a place of worship with intent to insult a religion, after the police administered the warning.

He was first charged on Nov 20 last year and was in remand until Monday.

The police said that he had climbed over a fence and entered the courtyard of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary along Upper Serangoon Road on three occasions — Nov 2, 5 and 12 last year.

It was not open to the public at the time as renovations for the 119-year-old church were underway. 

On the third occasion when he entered the church compound at about 12.30am, he used Blu-Tack to paste two yellow marbles on the eyes of the statue of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.

When he was first charged in court, Mr Koh claimed that he did not do it intentionally and was “sincere in wanting to pray to Mother Mary”.

“I wanted to beautify her, I did not know this was an offence,” he added. 

The police said that when he was referred to the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric assessment, he was found to have an “extensive history of substance use disorder but was not assessed to be of unsound mind at the time of the offence”.

Police investigations revealed that he did not intend to defile the statue and no permanent damage was done to it.

“A stern warning was thus given, taking into consideration the overall context of the offences, and taking into account the period of remand served,” the police spokesperson added.

Mr Koh was warned for all three instances of trespass.

The Catholic church in Hougang was opened in December 1901 and was gazetted as a national monument in 2005. The statue — which was donated by Sultan Ibrahim of Johor, Malaysia — has been there since 1946.

On its Facebook page, the church posted on Nov 17 last year that the statue has been restored.