A 43-year-old Australian woman has been sentenced to jail after spray-painting graffiti at Praisehaven – The Salvation Army in Singapore on Christmas Day in 2025.
Dianna Ong was sentenced to five months and six weeks’ jail on March 9 after pleading guilty to one charge of vandalism. Three other charges were taken into consideration by the court. The incident happened at about 6.35am on Dec 25, 2025, when Ong spray-painted offensive words in red on the walls of the Christian charity’s premises in Upper Bukit Timah. She also vandalised three vans belonging to the organisation.
The graffiti was discovered later that morning when a team leader arrived at the premises to prepare for a morning service and saw the spray-painted words on the walls. The security manager then contacted the police. Ong was arrested on the same day and was later charged in court on Dec 27.
After committing the act, Ong uploaded photos and videos of the graffiti on her social media accounts, which were visible to the public. According to court documents, she chose Christmas Day because “it was a Christian holiday and the offence had been intended as an act of protest against the Salvation Army”.
Prosecutors said she deliberately carried out the offence on a day of religious significance to attract more attention. They stated she wanted “to heighten the affront her actions would cause and to amplify the publicity that her ‘act of protest’ would attract”. The graffiti caused damage amounting to S$2,040 to the property and S$1,350 to the vans.
A psychiatric report presented in court showed that Ong did not have any active mental disorder and that she admitted committing the offence out of anger.
