By SINGAPORE — A 42-year-old woman was arrested by police on Monday (12 Dec) for being a public nuisance after she abruptly assaulted a shoe store owner for no reason.
According to Singapore Chinese media Shin Min Daily News, the incident happened at about 5 pm on the ground floor of Block 846 Yishun Ring Road.
The victim beaten by the woman told the reporter that the woman first visited a durian stall nearby, later came to her shoe store and overturned the table in front of her store for no reason.
Ms Wang, the 54-year-old victim recalled that the woman was so strong that she managed to topple two tables in a row, “at the time I was sitting in the store with my staff, we were too scared to go out to check what happened.”
She said her staff could only go out to set the tables after the woman left for dozens of minutes.
Ms Wang’s nightmare was not over, the woman came back unexpectedly, overturning the table again and getting physical.
“While my staff was tidying up halfway through, she came back again, and I had to call my staff back inside. she rushed over suddenly, hit me on the head four times with her fist, and then left. We called the police afterwards.”
Woman returned to shoe store for the third time
Ms Wang said the woman returned again for the third time and threw an empty bottle at her.
“My husband returned to the store at the time, together with the durian stall owner, he confronted the woman, and subdued her on the ground,” she recalled.
Ms Wang said this is the first time she had encountered such an incident as she had been doing business there for 28 years.
Singapore police later confirmed that they received a public complaint around 6.25 pm that evening and arrested a woman on charges of public nuisance, and the investigation is still ongoing.
Durian stall owner: she bought a 15 SGD durian
Mr Zhang and Mr Fu, who run a durian stall in front of the shoe store, told the reporter that they had been doing business there for seven years, and this was the first time they had witnessed a customer making trouble.
They did not realise anything unusual behaviour by the woman when she visited their durian stall.
31-year-old Mr Fu said the woman did buy a box of durian for S$15 before eating on the spot. She even said the durian was delicious and would recommend it to other customers.
Ms Wang: I do not know the woman
When paramedics from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) arrived at the scene, they took Ms Wang’s blood pressure and found that it soared to 190mmHg, and she had a fever.
Ms Wang declined to be sent to the hospital after receiving first aid. But she had a sleepless night after the incident.
She stressed that she did not know the woman and only hoped that she would not show up again.
Section 268 of the Penal Code states that a person who does any act, or is guilty of an illegal omission, which causes any common injury, danger or annoyance to the public, or to the people in general who dwell or occupy property in the vicinity, or which must necessarily cause injury, obstruction, danger or annoyance to persons who may have occasion to use any public right, is guilty of a public nuisance.
A person found guilty of the offence may face a fine of up to $2,000. If the offender had known that he will or will probably cause common injury, danger or annoyance to the public, or if he is a repeat offender, he may face imprisonment of up to 3 months or a fine of up to $2,000 or both.