Depressed youth set fire to pop-up booths at VivoCity and HarbourFront Centre

Several pop-up booths at VivoCity and HarbourFront malls went up in flames after a depressed teenager set their merchandise and equipment ablaze, causing over $27,000 in damage.

- David Sun Crime Correspondent

Yogesh Pubalan Pubalan, 19, was convicted on Nov 3 after pleading guilty to two counts of mischief. A third mischief charge will be taken into consideration for sentencing.

He was feeling upset while walking around VivoCity on the night of March 19, and suddenly felt an urge to set the booths on fire.

At around 11.10pm, he found a Polo Ralph Lauren pop-up booth outside the Polo store on the first floor of the mall that was closed for the day.

After confirming that no one was around, Yogesh took out a lighter from his pocket and set fire to a black cloth covering the booth, then stood nearby to watch the fire spread.

The blaze was eventually put out by passers-by, and caused over $17,000 in damage.

At around 11.20pm, Yogesh found an Oh!Sunny pop-up booth and set it on fire in the same way.

The booth suffered about $900 in damage.