Neighbour Who Harassed Nurse in Punggol HDB for a Year Remanded in IMH

Last Updated on 2021-05-22 , 5:45 pm

As if being shunned by the general public isn’t enough, healthcare workers also have to deal with outright harassment now.

My god, would people please leave these poor souls alone? 

Imagine putting your life on the line to help others, only to get screamed at for said helping of people. 

Ungrateful much?

Couple charged in court for harassing nurse

On Friday (May 2021), 56-year-old Cheang Eng Hock and 48-year-old Lim Sock Lay were charged in court for harassing their neighbours. 

Cheang faced two charges of intentionally causing harassment. Lim, Cheang’s wife, faced five similar charges and one count of public nuisance. 

At the prosecution’s request, the judge has ordered Lim to be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for two weeks for a psychiatric assessment. 

On the other hand, Cheang had been offered bail of S$5,000, with the condition that he must not contact his neighbours or any of the prosecution’s witness, directly or indirectly.  

The couple had allegedly used insulting words and behaviour against their nurse neighbour and their family. These incidents took place at a Punggol Housing Development Block (HDB) in May 2020, where the couple had shouted “COVID”, “COVID spreader”, “virus”, and “virus family” at their neighbours. 

Lim had also allegedly cursed at her neighbours in November and sprayed disinfectant at them in October and December last year in 2020.

Their nurse neighbour and his wife had reported the harassment to the police in May last year. Despite both parties having attended mediation in June 2020, Lim and Cheang reportedly continued to harass them between October 2020 and January 2021. 

Their neighbours then proceeded to file more police reports regarding said harassment.

The couple, Lim and Cheang, had also allegedly used insulting words against a nurse at Sengkang General Hospital on 8 January 2021, uttering “this nurse gangster”, “this nurse no good”, and “this nurse very bad”. 

Sengkang General Hospital had also filed a police report in May 2020, after a video posted by one of its nurses about a neighbour’s behaviour came to its attention. 

The hospital expressed clearly that its medical workers deserve consideration, respect and a safe environment both at work and at home. Addressing the public, the hospital called for respect to be given to their workers. 

In a statement by the Singapore Police Force (SPF), it said that they remained in contact with both parties. Both parties were advised to minimise contact and interactions with each other. 

If Cheang and Lim plead guilty to intentionally causing harassment, they could each be sentenced to six months’ jail, fined up to S$5,000, or both for every charge. 

More details of the incident can be read here. 

Rising Cases of Healthcare Workers Being Shunned

With the emergence of numerous new clusters in Singapore, many reports of nurses being shunned by the public have also emerged. 

Just last week on 11 May, Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong spoke out on the issue, stating that it is “a very worrisome trend.” He then cited several incidents of healthcare workers being asked to move out by their landlords on short notice, or healthcare workers being unable to “find a Grab or taxi to bring them to the hospital or to take them home after a shift”.

He also urged Singaporeans to support healthcare workers, saying that he “want[s] Singaporeans to also show their support to these healthcare workers, because they are putting themselves in harm’s way in order to protect us.”

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