There are a lot of ways in which you can interact with your neighbours.
Needless to say, spraying disinfectant in their faces and calling them names like nobody’s business are not two ways that anyone should be adopting.
Especially if they’re healthcare workers. I mean, come on lah. Do you really think that Singapore could be so safe during the COVID-19 pandemic if they didn’t exist?
Couple Fined For Harassing Neighbours
Just today (8 February), Cheang Eng Hock, 57, and his wife Lim Sok Lay, 49, were fined $1,200 and $4,000 respectively.
Cheang, a cleaning ambassador, plead guilty to one count of harassment while Lim, who is unemployed, plead guilty to three counts of harassment and one of being a public nuisance.
The couple had been harassing their neighbours, Mr Muhammad Najib Ngasewan, his wife Madam Habibah Sakri and their family from May 2020 to January last year.
For each count of harassment, the couple could have received a maximum jail term of six months or a fine of up to $5,000 each.
At that time, Mr Najib was a nurse at Sengkang Hospital, while Madam Habibah was working as an essential worker as well.
They Called Them “Virus Family”
Some people just never grow up, huh?
While “virus” was a good childhood game for everyone back in the day, it definitely shouldn’t be a word that you use to call people, especially in today’s context.
But Cheang and Lim did just that, shouting words and phrases such as “COVID”, “COVID spreader”, “virus” and “virus family” at Mr Najib and his family.
Seriously, how rude can some people get?
And this wasn’t even the worst.
The couple also sprayed disinfectant at their neighbours, and the disinfectant even landed on the face of Mr Najib’s young daughter once.
Thankfully, she was not hurt.
The terrible antics by the couple went on until Mr Najib put his foot down and requested for Protection by the Harassment Court in July last year.
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Despite the Protection order, the police still continued to receive reports from Mr Najib’s family about how Cheang and Lim had continued to harass them from October 2020 to January 2021.
And this was after all parties attended a mediation session at the Community Mediation Centre in June 2020.
Lim Was Remanded in IMH
After the case came to light, Lim was ordered to be remanded in the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) last May for further psychiatric assessment after being charged.
However, an IMH psychiatrist deemed her mentally well and not in an unsound state of mind, and therefore fit to plead guilty to the charges.
In a completely unrelated incident, Lim had also kicked up a fuss in Ngee Ann City shopping centre last February, where she demanded to speak to a customer whose complaint had allegedly resulted in her daughter getting fired from her hairdresser job.
She even continued to shout loudly even after police officers had arrived at the scene.
Lim’s Petition To the High Court
After her remand, Lim then decided to file a petition to the High Court, insisting that her 14-day-long remand was “not justified and amounted to serious injustice”.
Hello, you harass people for months on end even when they’re the ones protecting our country during the pandemic not considered “not justified and amounted to serious injustice” ah?
As expected, her appeal was dismissed by High Court judge Vincent Hoong in September last year who noted that no error had been made by the lower court.
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Offences Were “Not Committed Based On Their Occupation”
Er.., okay. Not sure why else you would call someone a “COVID spreader”. Unless they’re always in KTVs.
But yes, somehow, that claim did happen.
According to The Straits Times, the couple’s lawyer, N. K. Anitha, claimed that Cheang and Lim had “not committed [the offences] because of Mr Najib’s occupation.
Instead, there was another reason that motivated the attacks.
Ms Anitha claimed that Madam Habibah had brought foreign workers to stay at her flat during the lockdown period, which was the only thing that had caused conflict between both households.
She also added that Cheang and Lim had never had any issues with their previous neighbours.
Uh, or maybe the units beside them have always been empty, and they’ve never had neighbours before? You really never know.
In addition to that, Cheang had recorded a video of two foreign workers who were staying in Mr Najib’s unit. This then caused an argument between Cheang and Madam Habibah, with Madam Habibah saying that Cheang was a “busybody”.
Madam Habibah then explained that the workers in question were staying with her family with “approval”, and that they were also temporarily under “job placement”.
After the sentencing, Ms Anitha also told ST that “the male occupant’s job as a healthcare worker” was not taken into account during sentencing.
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Featured Image: Zolnierek / Shutterstock.com
