SINGAPORE: While working as a salesperson at Waterway Point, Goh Wei Yew got into an argument with a couple who felt he was being rude.
He later physically attacked them outside another store at the shopping mall, punching both of them and slamming the 60-year-old woman’s head into a wall.
On Wednesday (Mar 13), the 41-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntarily causing hurt and was sentenced to seven weeks’ jail.
The court heard that he was working at the Xiaomi store at the Punggol mall on Aug 21, 2023, when the couple approached him to ask about Xiaomi televisions.
Their conversation escalated into a verbal dispute because the couple felt he had been rude to them. The male victim, aged 66, then used his mobile phone to take a photo of Goh before the couple left the store.
Goh subsequently told his supervisor that he was not feeling well and also left the store, intending to return home.
While he was on the escalator going from Basement 1 to Level 1 of the mall, he chanced upon the couple taking the escalator in the opposite direction.
Feeling aggrieved over how they had treated him earlier, he rode the escalator back to Basement 1 in order to confront them.
He approached the female victim at the entrance of the Bedroom Affairs shop, asking her why she had been staring at him on the escalator. She told him not to come near her.
Enraged by this, he grabbed her head and slammed it on a wall at the shop’s entrance. He then punched the back of her head, causing her to fall to the ground.
The male victim was nearby and heard her shouts. When he approached the shop, Goh turned his attention to him, punching the left side of the older man’s head and pushing him to the ground.
Fearing for her partner’s safety as he had a history of stroke, the female victim got up and tried to prevent a further attack, but Goh grabbed her once again, pushed her to the ground and kicked her head. When she tried to stand up, he slammed her against a cabinet.
The assault only stopped when two passers-by intervened by holding Goh back and escorting him from the shop.
Closed-circuit television footage of the assault, which lasted for about 30 seconds, was played in court on Wednesday.
Both victims suffered injuries such as bruising and multiple abrasions.
State Prosecuting Officer Ng Chee Wee sought eight to 12 weeks’ jail, saying that Goh had “brutally assaulted elderly victims” and targeted vulnerable parts of their bodies.
He was previously convicted of attempted theft in 2000. He was also jailed for five years and given 12 strokes of the cane for robbery and snatch theft that same year.
Goh, who did not have a lawyer, apologised for what he had done and asked for a lenient sentence so he could start afresh. He has also paid the victims’ medical bills.
“Regardless of whatever the victim said and (did) ... I lost control but it’s not the answer,” he added, referring to the male victim who he said had a “very loud” voice.
In sentencing Goh, District Judge Brenda Chua noted that his assault on the female victim had been more sustained and violent.
Those convicted of voluntarily causing hurt can be jailed for up to three years, fined up to S$5,000 (US$3,750), or both.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/jail-assault-punggol-waterway-point-mall-4191781
