Schoolboy pretended to be Singapore minister

A 15-year-old boy was sentenced to 240 hours of community service for pretending to be Singapore's education minister in an e-mail to his principal that demanded the expulsion of two fellow students.

The student was caught after he mistakenly forwarded the message to the minister he was impersonating, former Education Minister Teo Chee Hean, The Straits Times newspaper reported.

A magistrate court sentenced the boy to 240 hours of community service and ordered his parents to pay a bond, which will be forfeited if he breaks probation conditions.

Magistrate May Mesenas also ordered the boy, who spends five to eight hours a day using his computer, to enroll in an addiction management programme and to keep a 9pm curfew.