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Never fails to leave readers guessing
Woman denies stealing from shop, hit shop assistant
By Amanda Phua
The New Paper
Friday, May 25, 2012
When the woman walked into the shop, her small plastic bag only held a water bottle.
She did not buy anything, but when she left the shop, she allegedly had a fancy black clutch bag belonging to the shop in the plastic bag.
And when an alert shop assistant spotted the bag and tried to stop the woman from leaving, the latter allegedly assaulted her by hitting her on the head with the plastic bag.
The drama unfolded soon after 3pm on Monday, at an Ang Mo Kio Hub shop that sells shoes and bags.
The shop assistant, who wanted to be known only as Madam Huang, said on Tuesday that she confronted the woman after suspecting her of shoplifting.
"I told her: 'Just return the bag and we won't call the police.' But she started shouting: 'What bag? What are you talking about?'", Madam Huang told The New Paper.
"The people around turned and stared at us. It was so embarrassing because she kept shouting."
Madam Huang said that she warned the woman that she was going to call the police when the woman did not admit that she had taken the bag and tried to walk away without paying.
The shop assistant said she turned around and was walking back into the shop when the woman allegedly hit her on the head with the plastic bag.
Rubbing the back of her neck, Madam Huang said: "How was I supposed to know she was going to attack me? I turned around after she hit me and her arms were raised as though she wanted to hit me again."
By then, Madam Huang's colleague, Ms Xing, 31, had called the police.
Madam Huang said the woman had initially behaved normally in the shop.
Dressed in a printed white T-shirt, black knee-length shorts and slippers, she browsed at the shop's racks.
Said Madam Huang: "She would touch the shoes, try them on, put them back and continue walking.
"But she was really strange because she ignored us whenever we asked if she wanted to try the shoes in her size, or if she needed help."
The woman walked one round in the shop. She then squatted down at the corner of the entrance where the clutch bags were displayed and tried on a shoe. She stood up, leaving the shoe on the floor, and left.
That was when Madam Huang noticed the $39 clutch bag in the woman's plastic bag.
After her colleague called the police, Madam Huang turned around, expecting the woman to still be there, but she had disappeared.
Shopkeepers and passers-by told Madam Huang that the woman was in a queue at the bus interchange opposite the shop.
Madam Huang said that when she confronted the woman again about the bag, the woman repeatedly feigned ignorance.
Went to taxi stand
Madam Huang said: "The aunty (the woman who allegedly stole the bag) walked towards the taxi stand and I was so afraid. I thought: 'What if she gets into a taxi and leaves?'
"I told her not to go because the police were coming. But of course, she didn't care."
Just as Madam Huang thought the woman was about to escape, two men appeared from behind them and apprehended the woman.
Madam Huang said the woman resisted and became violent again.
"They held onto her and she fought back. She asked why we were bullying her and threatened to set the shop on fire."
She said the two men, who she believes were plainclothes police officers, then led the woman away.
Madam Huang later went to the police station to give her statement and was given a letter to tell her doctor how she was injured.
She said her neck still feels sore, but has not seen a doctor.
She said: "I'll just apply some medicated oil when it hurts."
A police spokesman said a woman in her late 40s was arrested for theft. Investigations are ongoing.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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