Jun 15, 2010
It's culpable homicide: Coroner
<!-- by line --> By Elena Chong
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THE man who pushed an elderly woman after snatching her gold necklace and jade pendant at a private housing estate on a rainy evening two years ago is still at large, a coroner's court heard. The victim, Madam Rosalind Thong Lin Heng, 71, a Chinatown food stall owner, was warded in hospital for her head injuries and died about three weeks later of pneumonia.
At an inquiry into her death on Tuesday, the court heard that Madam Thong was on her way home in Thong Soon Green off Upper Thomson Road shortly before 11pm when a motorcyclist stopped to ask her for direction. She was about 200m away from her daughter's home when the strong-build suspect, in his late 20s or early 30s and 1.8m-tall, alighted from his motorcycle and asked where a certain unit was.
When Madam Thong turned her back to show the way, he grabbed her neck and demanded her gold necklace in Hokkien. He then snatched the necklace with jade pendant totalling $2,280 and pushed her, causing her to fall and hit the back of her head against the road. He fled on his motorcycle. Madam Thong managed to walk home and called the police. By the time she was sent to hospital on July 13, 2008, she had become comatose. She died on Aug 3 that year. State Coroner Eddy Tham recorded a verdict of culpable homicide by an unknown person.
