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Man jailed 10 weeks for punching female patron at Bukit Merah hawker centre

SINGAPORE — A 61-year-old man was sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail on Wednesday (Sept 8) for assaulting a fellow patron at 115 Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre last year following a dispute between them.

Cho Wai Keong, 61, pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to Madam Tan Poh Cheng, 61, at a hawker centre at 115 Bukit Merah View.

Cho Wai Keong, 61, pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to Madam Tan Poh Cheng, 61, at a hawker centre at 115 Bukit Merah View.

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SINGAPORE — A 61-year-old man was sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail on Wednesday (Sept 8) for assaulting a fellow patron at 115 Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre last year following a dispute between them.

Cho Wai Keong, a Singaporean, pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to Madam Tan Poh Cheng, also aged 61, who is a coffee stall assistant.

The court heard that the pair were acquaintances and she frequently patronised the hawker centre.

On Sept 6 last year, sometime before 8pm, they were drinking alcohol at different tables. He was with his ex-girlfriend while she was alone.

Cho saw some friends sitting near Mdm Tan and walked over to chat with them. In the midst of their conversation, he noticed Mdm Tan talking loudly at the next table, so he asked her to lower her volume.

They began arguing and scolding each other. When they were done and Cho was about to leave the hawker centre, he punched her once on the side of her face as he went past her.

Mdm Tan fell forward and struck her head on the table while Cho walked away.

Another man at a nearby table and some other acquaintances helped her up and took her home to rest.

The next day, Mdm Tan woke up and went to Singapore General Hospital as she was still experiencing some pain in the head. A CT scan of her brain showed that she had suffered haemorrhages in her head.

She was hospitalised for two days and granted medical leave for about a month, paying S$789 for her treatment through her Central Provident Fund MediSave account.

She also made a police report at Bukit Merah West Neighbourhood Police Centre, saying that after she hit her head on the table, she turned around and saw Cho running away.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Wee Yang Xi asked for 10 to 14 weeks’ jail for Cho, revealing that he was jailed for at least seven years and given at least 12 strokes of the cane in 2003 for robbery with hurt offences.

In 2018, he was convicted of voluntarily causing hurt and jailed for three weeks.

In mitigation, defence counsel Wilson Tan said that Cho had acted “out of a moment of folly” and was not able to control himself, though the lawyer acknowledged that this was not an excuse for his client’s actions.

Mr Tan also said that Cho is on medical social assistance and is not financially well-off.

For causing hurt, he could have been jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$5,000, or punished with both.

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court crime assault hawker centre 115 Bukit Merah View

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