Model-actress fined S$5,000 for verbally abusing SMRT station manager, police officer

SINGAPORE — Model, actress and property agent Melissa Faith Yeo Lay Hong was fined S$5,000 on Wednesday (Dec 4) for hurling vulgarities at an SMRT assistant station manager, a police officer and a police hotline operator on two separate days.

The 33-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges of using abusive language towards a public servant and public service worker. Another two charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

For each charge under the Protection from Harassment Act, she could have been fined up to S$5,000, jailed up to a year, or both.

Yeo first came to prominence after being featured in FHM Singapore’s 100 Sexiest Women editions in 2008 and 2009.

She was a model on the game show Deal Or No Deal, and appeared in some Mediacorp dramas such as Mata Mata and Point of Entry.

The court heard that on the evening of Nov 21 last year, she approached Mr Victor Chuang, the assistant station manager at Bishan MRT Station, to ask about past transactions on her ez-link stored-value card.

Mr Chuang, 63, gave her the last two transactions but she asked for more information, so he directed her to a functioning General Ticketing Machine that is able to show the travel records on a stored-value card.

Another nearby machine was out of service.

Yeo went towards the functioning machine but went back to the control station later to scold Mr Chuang, accusing him of giving her the wrong information and making her walk some distance.

After that, she walked off but went back again a few minutes later to ask for a copy of the station’s feedback form.

When Mr Chuang gave her one, she pointed her middle finger at him and said: “F*** you.”

Court documents showed that she also told him: “You are SMRT staff, you don’t have to be a d**k.” He filed a police report over the incident about two weeks later.

About six months later, Yeo struck again by shouting vulgarities at a police officer in the Ang Mo Kio Police Division headquarters.

Court documents showed that on May 2, she scolded the policewoman: “Police useless! F*** the police, ah!”. No other details were given.

About an hour later, she called the police emergency hotline to find out about a case she was involved in. It was not stated whether it was the SMRT case.

When the operator asked her what the emergency was, she eventually said: “I’m calling with regards to my IO (investigation officer), he’s a f***er.”

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The operator repeatedly reminded her to calm down and mind her language and tone. Unhappy with that, she replied: “Don’t tell me to calm down, calm down, calm down so that you can get away with your s**t.”

She finally insisted on talking to a “superintendent” as she wanted to give feedback on an investigation officer.

State Prosecuting Officer Mohd Nasri Haron sought a S$6,000 fine, while her lawyers Gerard Quek and Issac Riko Chua sought half of that.

Mr Quek said in mitigation that before the second incident occurred, Yeo had been “unfortunately assaulted” by her neighbour and was “quite uncomfortable that the neighbour might show up”.