In the latest episode of tourists behaving badly, a Chinese national landed herself some prison time after injuring a Singapore Airlines (SIA) ticketing staff by tossing a “Counter Closed” sign at the poor lady, who was just doing her job.
The Straits Times reported that 33-year-old Chang Lihui was sentenced to 24 days in jail for causing hurt to the victim by a rash act — it was said to be “highly deliberate”.
The victim — 30-year-old Sharin Chan Suet Gek — had been attending to Chang on June 11 at Changi Airport, where the Chinese national had gone to collect her SIA flight ticket. Chang had used a credit card belonging to a family member (who lives in Beijing) to book her ticket, but was not able to verify the identity of the family member. Nor could she verify whether the owner had even consented to the purchase. Nonetheless, Chang asked for the boarding pass, telling Chan that she had called the airline earlier to book the ticket.
Chan, however, informed the woman politely that they could not issue the pass until Chang could verify the owner of the credit card. Chan advised her to inform the card’s owner to contact the SIA office in China to confirm that the owner had consented to the purchase.
Chang flew into a rage, shouting abusive words against Chan, claiming that she did not have a mobile phone and thus could not contact the credit card owner. The SIA ticketing personnel eventually sought help from a male colleague, who repeated the same thing. Again, Chang scolded the staff and refused to listen to him.
When Chang asked for a refund, Chan said it would take a couple of weeks to process it, making the woman even angrier. She picked up a sign — measuring 26cm by 6cm — and hurled it towards Chan.
The sign hit Chan’s face, causing her to scream in pain — she also bled from cuts on her left eyebrow and nose bridge. Police arrested Chang at her hotel the day after the incident.
In court, an Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist noted that Chang suffered from schizophrenia, but she was not of unsound mind at the time of the offence. Prosecutors argued that her attack was completely unprovoked, and that Chang showed an utter lack of remorse.
She was sentenced to jail after she admitted to being guilty — a sentence that was backdated to July 1. She could have received up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine.
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