A PROPERTY management company has been ordered to pay $76,035 to the state as compensation for the loss of the Hopea sangal tree that it chopped down last year.

Although the motive in felling the tree - concern over the safety of tenants nearby - was altruistic, DTZ was wrong to cut it down.

DTZ Debenham Tie Leung was also fined $8,000 for illegally felling the tree, which was more than a century old.

In imposing the fine, District Judge Kow Keng Siong noted the significance of the tree, which had stood as a ''silent witness'' to the birth of the nation, and is believed to have been the last of its kind here.

''Unfortunately, having weathered more than a century of the forces of nature, it was not able to survive the senseless act of man,'' he said.

DTZ pleaded guilty earlier this month to felling the tree, which measured 3.4 m around and stood in a gazetted conservation area in Changi, on Nov 20 last year without permission from the National Parks Board.

It is an offence to fell any tree with a girth more than 1 m without permission. DTZ did not contest the amount of compensation.

When it came to the fine, Deputy Public Prosecutor Low Cheong Yeow pressed for the maximum of $10,000, but DTZ's lawyer, Mr Tan Chuan Thye, pushed for $5,000.

Mr Tan had said on March 3 that the tree was felled because a building supervisor was worried about the safety of tenants of two houses nearby.

The judge acknowledged that the motive was altruistic, but said DTZ should have considered how to save the tree instead of just cutting it down.

He also said he was not impressed by Mr Tan's argument that there was no sign to indicate the tree's status, and doubted that it was practical to put up such signs. He took into account that DTZ was a first-time offender.

In a statement to the media yesterday, DTZ said it wishes to move forward, having gained valuable lessons from this inadvertent act.

Mr Simon Longman, NParks' director of parks management (north and east division), said: ''The sentiments of the public over the felling of the Hopea sangal, and the court's decision, underscored the importance of tree conservation.''

Information on tree conservation areas can be found online at www.nparks.gov.sg