They say that doing things you’re afraid of equates to personal growth. That makes sense, doesn’t it?
When you make yourself do things that make you feel fear, you tend to realise, well, maybe that wasn’t so scary after all. And poof, suddenly you’re doing it over and over again as if it came naturally.
I suppose that’s what this 24-year-old Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer had in mind when she decided it would be a good idea to set things on fire cuz’ she was afraid of… fire.
24YO ICA Officer Jailed For Setting Fire To Her Workplace To ‘Cure Phobia’ Of Flames
I’m a big fan of self-help and DIY project, but when it comes to fire, I suggest you don’t play play.
A 24-year-old former Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer set fire to different spots at her workplace in Tuas Checkpoint three days in a row.
Her reason? She wanted to “cure” herself of a phobia of open flames after watching a movie about fire fighting.
Ayu Wandira Sunarno, who was a sergeant, was sentenced to six months in jail on Friday for her actions which took place from 5-7 July 2019.
What Did She Light Up
She set fire in confined places like the toilet and prayer room. The first time it happened was before the start of her night shift duty at around 9.10pm on 5 July.
She set a prayer garment called a telekung on fire and pretended not to know what was going on when her colleagues smelt a burning smell.
Smoke started blowing out from the prayer room and that was when they realised the telekung was on fire. Her colleagues put the water out by throwing water on it.
You’d think that after that incident, she would stop. But nope, she was going to go at it again after taking a nap during her break.
She set fire to yet another telekung at the prayer room and allegedly thought that it would extinguish itself.
Luckily, she took some initiative and put out the fire with a floor mat. But she continued setting fire to things such as a shirt the next day.
She would then claim that she was asleep and that she did not know what had happened.
Lawyer Said She Had A Phobia Of Open Flames After Watchinf a Firefighting Movie
In her defence, Ayu’s lawyer claimed that she had developed a phobia of open flames. She also said that Ayu’s case was once of mental disturbance.
Her fear of flames began when she was a Year Two culinary student at Republic Polytechnic. A skillet she was cooking caught fire and she dropped out of the course two years later.
Later she watched a movie called Only The Brave about experiences of firefighters who fought forest fires.
Thus, Ayu felt that the only way to overcome her phobia was to “face it directly”…
Ayu could have been sentenced to up to seven years in jail for each of her two charges of mischief by fire.
Moral of the story?
Overcome your fear…but use some common sense as well.
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