Man jailed for threatening Toa Payoh food stall assistant with chopper for ignoring his calls

SINGAPORE: A man was sentenced to nine weeks' jail on Thursday (Feb 10) for threatening a fishball noodle stall assistant with a chopper after she ignored his calls, as well as slapping a ban mian stall owner.

Abraham Lim Chew Poh, 65, pleaded guilty to a charge each of voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation, with a third charge considered in sentencing.

The court heard that Lim began going to a food court at Block 183, Toa Payoh Central, from 2019.

He developed a liking for a 30-year-old Vietnamese woman who was an assistant at the fishball noodle stall. He called her "Ah Mei" and treated her "as a little sister", the court heard.

Lim, a cleaner, would often patronise the fishball noodle stall and buy food for the woman, even though she told him not to.

He later managed to obtain her number and starting calling and messaging her multiple times. He became upset when she began ignoring him.

At about 3pm on Oct 10, 2020, Lim drank three to five bottles of beer at the food court with another person. He went to a nearby shop and bought a chopper. The chopper was around the size of a 500ml hand sanitiser bottle, according to court documents.

When he returned at about 7pm, he realised that his beer bottles had been cleared away and grew angry.

He removed the packaging of the chopper and went to the fishball stall, where the assistant was preparing noodles.

Angry that she no longer answered his phone calls, Lim pointed the chopper at her and said in Mandarin: "Ah Mei, this is for you."

He later left the scene and threw away the chopper as he was "embarrassed about what he had done".

He was given a conditional warning for this offence in December 2020, but reoffended.

PUNCHED BAN MIAN STALL OWNER

On Feb 14, 2021, Lim drank beer alone at the same food court from 6pm to sometime after 9pm.

After finishing about three bottles of beer, he got up to head home but saw the owner of the ban mian stall, which was adjacent to the fishball noodle stall.

Lim then went up to the victim and told him he was "not a man". The victim ignored Lim and continued eating, but Lim went back to him again and slapped his face.

The victim's wife called the police.

Lim later admitted that he had been holding a grudge against the ban mian stall owner since the chopper incident, which the ban mian stall owner had witnessed.

The prosecutor asked for at least two months' jail, saying Lim breached the terms of his conditional warning just two months after receiving it. 

He also has several previous convictions from 1979 to 2013, for offences including armed robbery and extortion, the court heard.

For voluntarily causing hurt, Lim could have been jailed up to three years, fined up to S$5,000, or both. For criminal intimidation, he could be jailed up to two years, fined, or both.