Mosquitoes can be pesky pests so it’s quite strange that someone would want to introduce more of them into the world. A woman who was on trial for creating conditions favorable to mosquito breeding in her toilet bowl was convicted and fined $1,060 by a district court.
National Environment Agency (NEA) officers discovered that Koh Ee Sian was breeding mosquitoes in a toilet bowl in her apartment back in May 2022. She had been staying in the room next door but did not use the toilet bowl in question as she was waiting for tenants to move in.
According to the case files, two NEA officers went to Koh’s unit because of a dengue outbreak within the Housing Board estate. When they inspected the entire unit, they found mosquito breeding in the master bedroom toilet bowl, specifically finding Aedes larvae.
NEA prosecutor Harvinder Kaur said the condition that facilitated the propagation of mosquitoes existed in the flat owned by Koh, “otherwise, how else could the larvae exist in the toilet bowl?” “If the toilet bowl was flushed or cleaned every day, no larvae would be found,” said Kaur.
The officers involved had originally asked Koh for detergent to destroy the breeding habitat but Koh said she had none and insisted that she did not kill animals because of her religious beliefs. Officers asked Koh for an empty bottle so she could collect a breeding sample and used boiling water to destroy the breeding habitat before they left.
The sample showed mosquito breeding of the Aedes species — Dengue, chikungunya and Zika — at larval stage 4. According to case files, it takes an egg four days to reach this stage.
Initially, Koh was given a $150 fine but she said she did not want to pay it as she did not create conditions favourable to mosquito breeding as described in the offence. “I didn’t create it, because the master bedroom toilet was left like untouched and I also didn’t know, I am also the victim of the mosquito, you know, breeding there… so, that’s why I came here,” Koh said.
While Koh claimed it was unfair that she was charged by District Judge Brenda Chua, saying that if everyone used Koh’s reasoning that what was left untouched was not their responsibility, mosquitoes “would be left to breed rampantly in households.”
Noting that the danger caused by the Aedes mosquito could be serious and fatal, the judge fined Koh $1,060.