Sunday, Aug 26, 2012
SINGAPORE - She allegedly threatened to dig out his eyes and kick his pregnant wife until she miscarries.
She also punched and kicked him, and tussled with his wife as well, they said.
And when things came to a boil, she emerged from her apartment with a tray of eggs and pelted the couple.
For more than a year, Mr James Tan and his wife Agnes had to deal with the aggressive antics of their next-door neighbour, leading to both parties filing about 15 police reports against each other.
The couple lodged a magistrate's complaint against the neighbour, divorcee Liao Feng Chu.
She was arrested on Aug 16 for alleged criminal intimidation.
Mr Tan said trouble started not long after they moved into their two-bedroom apartment at The Petals Condominium at Hillview Avenue in June last year.
This was shortly after the death of their eight-year-old son, who had suffered a serious illness.
"We came here to recover," said Mr Tan, 46, a logistics manager.
"The first encounter wasn't a problem. We told her about our son, she shared she was a divorcee.
"But she did also say that she made her ex-neighbour leave as he had been putting items outside his flat."
One or two months later, they saw the neighbour again after she came back from a trip to Taiwan.
By then, the Tans had placed a shoe rack outside their unit.
"She started to make noise about how she didn't like to see shoes. So we bought a shoe cupboard. Even then, she would pop her head out of her door in the mornings, shouting," said Mr Tan.
"She would curse us, saying we will be barren," added Mrs Tan, 38, who is 41/2 months pregnant.
Ms Liao also installed a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera outside her door, pointed at Mr Tan's unit. Mr Tan fixed one of his own a few weeks later.
To protect their privacy, the couple put a cardboard box on top of the cupboard outside their door to block the camera's line of sight.
But things got physical earlier this year.
Mrs Tan, who is an operations manager, alleged that Ms Liao assaulted her on Jan 26 after an encounter in the lift, an incident partially captured by the condo's CCTV camera.
Mrs Tan said she ran into her neighbour, who appeared to have stepped out of the lift, at the lift landing on her floor.
But when Mrs Tan entered the lift, her neighbour followed her in.
"I felt it was a bit strange, but just pressed the button for the first level," she said.
After the lift doors closed, the neighbour turned to her and said, wielding her cellphone: "I want to shoot you."
"I said, 'What do you want to shoot?'"
Mrs Tan, who had been carrying four bags, tried to use the bags to shield her face.
Her neighbour swung her arm across to stop her from doing so, striking her face, she claimed.
When they reached the first floor, both Mr Tan, who had been waiting in his car, and the neighbour, called the police.
SINGAPORE - She allegedly threatened to dig out his eyes and kick his pregnant wife until she miscarries.
She also punched and kicked him, and tussled with his wife as well, they said.
And when things came to a boil, she emerged from her apartment with a tray of eggs and pelted the couple.
For more than a year, Mr James Tan and his wife Agnes had to deal with the aggressive antics of their next-door neighbour, leading to both parties filing about 15 police reports against each other.
The couple lodged a magistrate's complaint against the neighbour, divorcee Liao Feng Chu.
She was arrested on Aug 16 for alleged criminal intimidation.
Mr Tan said trouble started not long after they moved into their two-bedroom apartment at The Petals Condominium at Hillview Avenue in June last year.
This was shortly after the death of their eight-year-old son, who had suffered a serious illness.
"We came here to recover," said Mr Tan, 46, a logistics manager.
"The first encounter wasn't a problem. We told her about our son, she shared she was a divorcee.
"But she did also say that she made her ex-neighbour leave as he had been putting items outside his flat."
One or two months later, they saw the neighbour again after she came back from a trip to Taiwan.
By then, the Tans had placed a shoe rack outside their unit.
"She started to make noise about how she didn't like to see shoes. So we bought a shoe cupboard. Even then, she would pop her head out of her door in the mornings, shouting," said Mr Tan.
"She would curse us, saying we will be barren," added Mrs Tan, 38, who is 41/2 months pregnant.
Ms Liao also installed a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera outside her door, pointed at Mr Tan's unit. Mr Tan fixed one of his own a few weeks later.
To protect their privacy, the couple put a cardboard box on top of the cupboard outside their door to block the camera's line of sight.
But things got physical earlier this year.
Mrs Tan, who is an operations manager, alleged that Ms Liao assaulted her on Jan 26 after an encounter in the lift, an incident partially captured by the condo's CCTV camera.
Mrs Tan said she ran into her neighbour, who appeared to have stepped out of the lift, at the lift landing on her floor.
But when Mrs Tan entered the lift, her neighbour followed her in.
"I felt it was a bit strange, but just pressed the button for the first level," she said.
After the lift doors closed, the neighbour turned to her and said, wielding her cellphone: "I want to shoot you."
"I said, 'What do you want to shoot?'"
Mrs Tan, who had been carrying four bags, tried to use the bags to shield her face.
Her neighbour swung her arm across to stop her from doing so, striking her face, she claimed.
When they reached the first floor, both Mr Tan, who had been waiting in his car, and the neighbour, called the police.
