There is a saying that goes, “some things are worth fighting for.” If you apply it to situations like fighting for the rights of people, it sounds pretty heroic.
However, when you apply it to situations such as fighting for the rights of withdrawing $67K from a bank…
You’ll end up getting a jail sentence.
Woman Jailed After Kicking And Tearing UOB Staff’s Shirt When She Couldn’t Withdraw $67K
A 42-year-old woman, Yang Manying, was sentenced to three weeks’ jail yesterday (27 December). Yang was born in China and is now a Singapore Citizen.
She was charged for criminal trespass into an office of United Overseas Bank (UOB) and another charge of voluntarily causing hurt to a bank’s fraud investigator, Mr Desmond Goh.
So, why exactly did she attack Mr Goh?
Mr Goh came to know about Yang when he was investigating suspicious transactions, totaling $67K into a merchant account held by UOB. This account, opened in 2007, belonged to a clinic. However, the documents did not mention who owns the clinic.
After a search on the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority’s website, it showed that Yang was the owner of a healthcare centre.
Yang’s defence lawyer, Mr Desmond Tan, told the court on Friday that she had taken over her husband’s “inactive company”, which had previously entered into a merchant agreement with UOB.
However, Mr Goh found that the merchant account was being used to receive sales proceeds from a massage establishment. Furthermore, these transactions were made at “unusually late hours”. This raised suspicion that they could be “proceeds of crime”.
Therefore, UOB withheld the $67K from Yang, which riled her up and led to a confrontation at Mr Goh’s office in Toa Payoh.
The Attack
On the morning of 26 September last year, Yang tailgated a UOB employee to gain access to a restricted area of the bank’s office.
After locating Mr Goh, she started attacking him. However, she was eventually escorted out of the office by the police, where she would loiter around the area, and find another way to re-enter the office again.
This led to another attack on Mr Goh, where she punched him in the face, chest, and even kicked him in the groin.
Ouch.
She also tore his shirt and threatened him that she knew where he lived and she would look for him.
As a result of the attack, Mr Goh got a scratch mark that measured 5cm across his chest, while his thighs were also bruised. He was then given two days of medical leave and spent at least $125.10 on medical fees.
Violence Is Not The Answer
Yang’s lawyer, Mr Tan, reasoned that even though she was not highly educated, she still managed to turn her husband’s company around until it was doing “fairly well”.
He added that there were no such cases until October 2017, when UOB “suddenly and unilaterally” terminated the merchant agreement that Yang was relying on to receive cashless payments.
In response, District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim said that there was no need for Yang to resort to violence regardless of any grief she had against UOB and Mr Goh. It is insane to beat up someone just because she is not happy with the bank.
For committing criminal trespass, Yang could have been jailed up to three months, or fined up to $1,500, or both.
For voluntarily causing hurt, she could have been jailed up to two years, or fined up to $5,000, or both.
This is why violence is never the answer, kids.
