SINGAPORE: A 52-year-old woman damaged a lion dance costume by pouring coffee on it and kicking its head at West Coast Community Centre.
In a separate incident, Lim Sok Lay also repeatedly pushed a man she suspected of scratching her baby grandson at a coffee shop in Punggol.
She pleaded guilty on Monday (Feb 3) to one charge each of mischief and criminal force. Two other charges will be taken into consideration when she is sentenced on Feb 26.
Lim’s husband, Cheang Eng Hock, 60, is also accused of pouring coffee on the lion dance costume and disrupting a lion dance performance. He is set to plead guilty on Feb 21.
The couple made the news in 2022, when they were fined for harassing their neighbours, one of whom was a nurse, by shouting “COVID spreader” and spraying disinfectant towards their flat.
On Monday, the court heard that Lim and Cheang were in an ongoing dispute with their son over his participation as a performer in a lion dance troupe.
Lim did not like her son associating with the troupe because she believed it was a bad influence on him, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tin Shu Min said.
On Jul 29, 2023, the couple knew that her son’s troupe was performing at West Coast Community Centre and went there to confront them.
When they arrived, they saw the troupe preparing for a competition. Around 3.45pm, Lim poured coffee over the troupe’s lion dance costume, causing stains that could not be removed. She also kicked the head of the costume.
These actions caused damage amounting to S$1,330 (US$970), as the costume could no longer be used in lion dance competitions.
A crowd of about 200 people were attending the competition, and Lim’s actions disrupted the event for about 10 minutes. She had to be escorted out of the venue.
An earlier incident in February 2023 involved Lim pushing a man whom she believed had scratched her baby grandson’s nose.
On Feb 2, 2023, Lim and other family members were at a coffee shop at Waterway Ridges, an HDB estate in Punggol. The victim, a distant acquaintance of the family, was also there.
The victim offered to carry Lim’s five-month-old grandson, who was crying. He carried the baby while queuing for food in front of Lim’s family, and also after joining Lim’s family at their table.
Later that night, Lim saw a scratch on the baby’s nose and believed that the man had caused it.
Investigations showed that there was no evidence the victim had caused the scratch, Ms Tin said.
The next morning, Lim confronted the victim at the coffee shop and pushed him five times before walking away.
Lim’s lawyer Nichol Yeo said that she could make voluntary restitution for half of the damage to the lion dance costume, after splitting the amount with her husband.
He told the court that Lim committed the offences while “extremely frustrated” and in a “moment of folly”, and was remorseful.
He said that Lim had gone to look for her son at the community centre when he did not pick up phone calls.
As for using criminal force to push the man, Mr Yeo said Lim did this because she was worried about her grandson.
The penalty for mischief is a jail term of up to two years, a fine or both. The punishment for using criminal force is up to three months in jail, a fine of up to S$1,500 or both.
