Mei Ling food centre hawker jailed for assaulting ‘unpleasant and difficult’ stallholder

• Ling Heng Soon and Ms Jenny Lim regularly used vulgarities on each other for almost two years
• Things came to a head when he began punching and kicking her at Mei Ling Market & Food Centre
• He alleged that she first swung her bag at him and verbally abused him, but a judge rejected this

SINGAPORE — Following almost two years of acrimony with Ms Jenny Lim, owner of a beancurd and noodle stall next to his own, Ling Heng Soon assaulted her at Mei Ling Market & Food Centre.

Passers-by had to restrain him from further attacking the bleeding woman. She now has permanent scars on her face.

On Thursday (Nov 19), Ling, 62, was jailed four months after pleading guilty last year to one count of causing hurt to Ms Lim, 60.

During an earlier Newton hearing, he asserted that Ms Lim had swung her bag and shouted vulgarities at him just before he beat her up. He also claimed that he acted under provocation.

Newton hearings are held during the sentencing process when facts that may materially affect the sentence are disputed.

District Judge Ong Luan Tze noted on Thursday that both stall owners regularly used vulgar language on each other in the months leading up to the incident on Oct 3, 2018.

Ms Lim “was not a pleasant stall neighbour to have” and Ling had a difficult time, the judge said.

“However, it’s not a crime to be unpleasant and it’s no excuse to assault someone just because they are unpleasant.”

District Judge Ong rejected Ling’s assertions and said that even if Ms Lim swung her bag at him, it could not have been the trigger for the assault.

Closed-circuit television footage showed Ms Lim rifling through her bag for “a significant period” beforehand. 

The judge thus found no provocation that would materially affect Ling’s sentence, but took into account his plea of guilt.

He will begin serving his sentence on Dec 1.

Court records showed that he is set to receive another charge of causing hurt to a vulnerable adult.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that Ms Lim complained to the authorities about bulky items placed outside Ling’s food stall around February 2017.

Ling was then asked to remove the items and he had to lease another stall in Mei Ling Market, located in the Queenstown area, to store them. He grew unhappy as a result.

They verbally abused each other up until the day of the incident but were never physically rough with each other.

On the afternoon of the incident, Ms Lim was packing up her stall when Ling approached her, punched her on the face and flung her against the wall before punching her several times again.

When she fell, Ling grabbed both her hands and moved on top of her.

Police cameras in the market captured the scene.

A passer-by intervened and separated them, while others tried to calm Ling down.

Ms Lim managed to get up and walk away but when she went to retrieve her handbag, Ling broke loose from the people holding him back, ran towards her and kicked her forcefully at her hip, causing her to fall.

As she lay on the ground, he kicked her on the face before a passer-by pulled him back. He had to be restrained again, with one of them calling the police while holding onto him.

Ms Lim did not retaliate at any point.

Police officers arrived shortly afterwards and Ms Lim was taken in an ambulance, bleeding, to the National University Hospital. She had sustained superficial scratches on her cheek and upper eyelid.

She was given a tetanus vaccination and discharged with medicine.

The wounds had healed by the time she returned for a medical review on Jan 7 last year. However, the scars are likely to be permanent.

Ling has compensated Ms Lim with S$407 for her medical bills. She is now pursuing a civil claim for damages against him for her injuries.

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