Police arrested one woman and her two companions for showing violent behaviour at a Teochew porridge stall. Reports said that the trio caused a total of $10,285.42 in damage.
It started after the woman became unhappy with a waitress and decided to throw the bowl into the eatery. Later her two male friends proceeded to damage the property. The incident took place on May 26, 2017.
During the court hearing on Thursday at State Court, while the 41-year-old woman, Pang Pei Pei was sentenced to a jail term for four weeks, 49-year-old Ang Sim Poh and 47-year-old Tan Sung Meng will serve a six weeks' prison term.
District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt said that Pang received a lesser sentence, as she had been remanded for two weeks at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for a psychiatric evaluation.
Reports said that during the sentencing Pang pleaded guilty to one count of causing mischief with common intention and her two companions, Ang and Tan also pleaded guilty to one count of each of committing a rash act at Heng Long Teochew Porridge, which is located at Upper Serangoon Road.
Another 53-year-old man, Yeo Keng Hock, who is a friend of the trio, was in the location at the time of the incident, as they met in the afternoon to drink beer. All of them are regular patrons of Heng Long Teochew Porridge stall.
On the day of the incident, they continued to consume alcohol until 3 am the following morning and get a taxi to go to Heng Long for supper. All of them were drunk by the time they reached the food stall.
They paid $50 for their food to the waitress, who was recognized as Chia Ai Cheng. While waiting for the change to receive Pang began asking Chia for their bill and became very aggressive and suddenly hurl her bowl into the eatery. Soon after that Ang and Tan also threw their porridge bowls into the stall and started to smash other items at the stall.
A CCTV footage, which captured the riot, showed that two men threw wooden stools in the stall and the waitress, along with other customers were backing away due to the violent situation. The rampage continued almost for a minute and when the group left the stall situation cane under control.
During the hearing, the prosecution sought for an eight weeks imprisonment for each and every accused. But the lawyers for each of the three had urged for fines. They said that their clients were unable to offer the compensation for their violent action in the food stall, as Ang and Pang are unemployed and Tan is just a technician.
The court also heard that Pang has six children and she is currently undergoing a divorce case. She also suffered from the acute situational reaction disorder, which triggers her anger more easily than others.
Tan's lawyer, S Balamurugan told the court that his client accepted all the wrongdoings. He also added that Tan had been looking for a breakdown of the bill and did not want to frustrate the waitress. But he said the way the employee of the food stall had engaged with them, triggered the incident.
Later Ang's representative, lawyer Supramaniam Rajan said that his client had a good report with the management and staff of the restaurant.
Judge Chey noted that in relation to what the waitress allegedly said, the reaction of the trio was disproportionate. However, he pointed that the bill of the food was $28, not $280 or $2,800.
