SINGAPORE: A housewife admitted on Thursday (Jan 2) to beating her neighbor with a mop and pelting her with eggs after she felt the noise the woman made while jumping rope disturbed her son.
Jessinta Tan Suat Lin, 50, also told her son that she would kill his father in his sleep, and the man heard these threatening words.
She threatened her husband that she would cancel the bail, causing him to lose the S$2,000 (US$1,470) bond he had put up as her surety.
Tan pleaded guilty to one charge of committing a rash act, voluntarily causing hurt and causing alarm with threatening words. Two more charges will be taken into consideration at sentencing.
The court heard that Tan was living with her husband and teenage son at the Westmont condominium on West Coast Road at the time of the crimes in early 2024.
The victim, a 26-year-old master’s student, also lived in the condominium.
On February 16 around 10 p.m., the victim was jumping rope in a common area near the condominium’s pool. She was wearing earphones.
Tan, who was in her apartment, was unhappy about the noise the victim made while jumping rope as her son wanted to rest.
Frustrated, she confronted the victim in the common area and asked the younger woman to stop exercising, but the victim refused.
Tan threw vulgarities at the victim. She returned to her apartment and threw five to six eggs out the window at the victim, hitting her on the back with some of the eggs.
Tan then grabbed a mop from her apartment and returned to the common area to confront the younger woman again.
They got into an argument, during which the victim managed to take the mop from Tan. But Tan bit the victim’s arm and she dropped the mop in pain.
Tan then picked up the mop and hit the victim’s head several times. The victim was bleeding from her injuries.
Tan used so much force that the aluminum pole broke into three pieces, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhou Yang.
The victim walked away from Tan and called the police, but Tan then threw a bag of trash and a metal incense container at her.
The victim was taken to hospital with bleeding on her forehead, bruises and a swollen bite wound on her arm and required stitches.
She was discharged the same day with antibiotics. Due to the assault, she later left the condominium.
ENDANGERED HUSBAND AND SON
Tan was arrested and subsequently released on S$2,000 bail. Her husband was her surety at the time.
On the night of April 28, Tan and her husband got into an argument when he refused to leave the bedroom even though their son wanted to practice a speech in the room.
Tan’s husband was also angry with her for speaking to their son in a rough manner.
Tan sent her husband a text message threatening to void his bail if he tampered with her, causing him to lose the S$2,000 he had put up as security.
Later that night, while talking to her son in the living room, Tan said that she might kill her husband in his sleep one day, and that he should lock his door.
She also threatened to report him to the police for raping her. Her husband heard these words and reported the incident to the police that evening.
District Judge Crystal Goh ordered Tan to be assessed at the Institute of Mental Health for her suitability for a mandatory treatment order (MTO).
An MTO orders an offender who suffers from certain treatable psychiatric conditions to undergo psychiatric treatment. It is a community sentence that leaves no criminal record once completed.
Tan’s lawyer, Mr Shiever R, argued for an MTO on the grounds that a psychiatrist who assessed Tan after the offenses found she had a mixed anxiety disorder.
Another psychiatrist also found that there was a high chance of intermittent explosive disorder. Tan was being treated for both conditions, the lawyer said.
He said Tan’s daily routine revolved around her family, including household chores and taking her son to and from school and his activities, leaving her little time for herself.
Tan and her husband’s relationship was tense, but she was a “loving mother” and their argument was over their different parenting styles, Shiever said.
He argued that the attack on her neighbor was an isolated incident and that she was prepared to apologize to the victim and compensate her.
He also said Tan was “deeply disturbed” by her behavior and was ashamed to face her son after he committed the offences.
The prosecutor countered that Tan’s medical reports did not show her mixed anxiety disorder had any causal link to the offences.
He noted that Tan was given two different diagnoses, with the diagnosis of intermittent explosive disorder being closer to the facts than mixed anxiety disorder.
He pointed out that Tan did not seek psychiatric help after attacking her neighbor and then insulting her husband again.
Tan remains free on S$10,000 bail and will be sentenced on February 11.
The offense of committing a rash act endangering life or safety is punishable by imprisonment for up to six months, a fine of up to S$2,500, or both.
For voluntarily causing pain, Tan could be jailed for up to three years, with a fine of up to S$5,000 or both.
She could also be fined up to S$5,000 for using threatening words likely to cause alarm.
Leave a Reply