Teen charged in Singapore after licking juice dispenser straw on video

What might look like a crude prank online carried real criminal exposure in Singapore, where 18-year-old French national Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien was charged with mischief and public nuisance after a video showed him licking an iJooz juice-machine straw and returning it to the dispenser.

Local reports said the alleged incident took place at about 2 p.m. on March 12 at Goldhill Centre along Thomson Road. In the clip, Maximilien allegedly took a straw from an iJooz orange-juice vending machine, licked it, put it back, filmed the act, edited the footage on Snapchat and later uploaded it to his Instagram Story. The video surfaced online the same day and spread quickly across social media, drawing disgust from viewers who saw it as more than immature trolling.

iJooz said it became aware of the video on the evening of March 24 and filed a police report the next day. The company later replaced all 500 straws in the dispenser, at a reported cost of S$5. The episode also prompted changes to some iJooz machines in Singapore, with reports that newer units have been fitted with individually wrapped straws or locked dispensers that open only after purchase.

Singapore police said the teenager was arrested for public nuisance after a report was made, and investigations continued before the charge was filed on April 24, 2026. If convicted of mischief, Maximilien faces up to two years in jail, a fine, or both. The public nuisance count carries up to three months in jail, a fine of up to S$2,000, or both.

The case underscores a sharp legal and cultural divide. In Singapore, hygiene and public order are enforced with unusual force, and conduct that might be dismissed elsewhere as a childish stunt can trigger criminal charges. Reports said Maximilien is a student at ESSEC Business School, which said it was aware of the incident. For Singapore, the message is broader than one viral clip: public spaces, shared equipment and social-media antics are treated as matters of civic discipline, not online entertainment.