Man fined for putting ‘love potion’ into woman’s water bottle

Wong Fook Hiong was sentenced to the maximum fine of $1,500 for negligently endangering life. The Straits Times/ANN

SINGAPORE—A technical support officer added an unknown substance to a woman’s drinking water bottle, thinking it was a love potion.

Wong Fook Hiong had bought two vials of the substance online for US$200 (S$287).

He did not check on their contents before adding it into the woman’s drinking water.

He claimed that he had done it in the hope that she would drink the water and fall in love with him.

On Tuesday (Jan 19), the 43-year-old, who is now unemployed, was sentenced to the maximum fine of $1,500 for negligently endangering life.

He admitted pouring the substance—a mixture of xylazine and haloperidol, both poisons—into the water bottle of the 30-year-old woman at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Clementi Road, on Jan 12 last year.

Assistant Public Prosecutor N.K. Anitha said that some time in November 2014, the victim drank some water from her bottle and found that it tasted bitter. She immediately spat it out.

On another occasion, she drank a mouthful and it also tasted bitter. So, she stopped drinking water from that bottle.

She had found that after drinking, her throat would become dry and she was unable to think clearly. She was also unable to sleep at night.

After this happened a few times, she decided to place her mobile phone in video recording mode at her desk and did so on Jan 12 last year at about 5.30 p.m.

She went out and, when she returned at about 8 p.m., she saw that Wong had walked to her desk and and poured the substance into a bottle of mineral water on her desk. He then shook the bottle and placed it back in its original position.

She made a police report the next day and Wong was arrested.

The water was analyzed and found to contain the two poisons.

Xylazine is a sedative, analgesic and muscle relaxant used in veterinary medicine. The reported effects in humans include drowsiness, disorientation, lethargy, hypotension, slow heart beat and respiratory depression.

Haloperidol, an antipsychotic drug, is used to treat various psychosis. If taken, it can cause, among other things, tremor, insomnia, agitation, excessive muscle activity and headache.

APP Anitha, who sought the maximum fine, said it was fortuitous that the victim did not suffer serious harm.

Wong, who is married, could have been fined and jailed for up to three months.