A couple was charged in court this morning with waging a months-long harassment campaign against their neighbor, who works in health care.
Lim Sok Lay, 48, was charged with public nuisance and five counts of harassment while her husband, 56-year-old Cheang Eng Hock, was indicted on two counts of harassment, according to media reports. Both stand accused of targeting their next-door neighbor, said to be a nurse at Sengkang General Hospital, with tactics that included splashing their property with soapy and disinfectant.
The victims have intimated that they are victims of pandemic paranoia due to employment in health care. Lim is undergoing psychiatric evaluation at the Institute of Mental Health.
The charges came about a year after the accusers went public on social media. Both parties, who live in Punggol, reportedly tried and failed to resolve the dispute out of court through the Community Mediation Centre in June 2020. In March, the unidentified nurse shared a video of water being splashed outside his home.
The police said yesterday that they received multiple reports related to the dispute since May 2020. More complaints were filed between October and January, as well as last month.
The nurse’s wife, who seemed exhausted by the year-long episode, reacted yesterday to the court action against the couple with mixed feelings.
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“As most Singaporeans know….. Our misery will somehow come to an end soon? I [don’t] know… Not sure to be happy, nor sad. 380 days of wait, 380 days of misery, 380 days of fear, 380 days of being splashed towards, being hurled with vulgarities in [M]andarin and [M]alay, being called names, being sprayed at by [I] [don’t] know what solution and many more.”
She said her daughter remained traumatized by the incessant harassment.
“Can anyone take away her PTSD from her right now please? … Can someone convince her that she can play outside the corridor safely now?” she said of her 6-year-old child.
Cheang has posted a S$5,000 (US$3,800) bond for release. Each harassment charge carries a maximum penalty of six months’ jail and a S$5,000 fine.
Discrimination against nurses has spread in Singapore along with the COVID-19 epidemic. Stories of nurses being shunned by landlords and cab drivers have been reported in the media. Hotel G at Middle Road recently apologized for refusing a staycation to a Tan Tock Seng Hospital staffer, “due to the possible risk exposed to the staycation guests.”
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