Woman jailed 14 weeks for persistently harassing her sister, mother in 4th such conviction

• Ng Hui Yi had already been convicted three times of offences against her older sister and mother
• She continued targeting them last year and earlier this year
• Once, she posed as her sister on Facebook and posted insulting messages
• Her mental disorders had no contributory link to her offences, a psychiatrist found

SINGAPORE — Despite being given a jail term and community-based sentences for harassing her older sister and mother, Ng Hui Yi continued violating the personal protection orders (PPOs) they had taken out against her.

Among her latest offences, she stole her mother’s phone and threatened to keep it unless the older woman willed all of her assets to her.

Ng also posed as her sister on Facebook, posted insulting messages such as calling her a “crazy killer murderer” and emailed the same material to her employer.

On Tuesday (June 1), Ng, 26, was jailed for 14 weeks after pleading guilty to seven charges of theft, wrongful confinement, harassment and violating a PPO. Four other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The prosecution told the court that she was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2014 and obsessive compulsive disorder in 2016, but her mental conditions had no contributory link to her offences. She also has borderline intellectual functioning.

In 2014 and 2016, she was sentenced to a mandatory treatment order each time for slapping her mother, Madam Tay Kim Lian, whose age was not disclosed in court documents.

However, she stopped going for court-appointed psychiatric treatment in 2015 and has been “generally unreceptive to treatment”, the prosecution added.

A mandatory treatment order is a community sentencing option offered to offenders suffering from mental conditions that contributed to the offence.

Most recently, in June last year, she was jailed for threatening to stab Mdm Tay, stealing her mobile phone and sending a doctored photograph of Mdm Tay to her employer.

Mdm Tay obtained a PPO restraining Ng from using violence against her in 2011, while Ng’s sister was issued one in October 2016. They no longer live with her but have occasionally allowed her to stay with them.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that in the wee hours of June 25 last year, shortly after being released from prison, Ng went over to her mother’s flat.

She hammered on the windows and shouted to get Mdm Tay’s attention, then fastened a padlock to the flat gates when Mdm Tay did not respond. A neighbour eventually persuaded her to leave.

Mdm Tay called the police and was only able to unlock her gates by calling a locksmith in the morning.

In an unrelated incident four days later, Ng stole her neighbour’s underwear and bedspread from a clothing rack outside the neighbour’s unit. Footage of this was captured on the other woman’s closed-circuit television camera.

Then, earlier this year, on March 2, Ng let herself into Mdm Tay’s flat and locked herself in the room of her sister Ng Hui Qi. She then began going through her sister’s mobile phone to get contact details of her colleagues and boyfriend.

Unable to locate a spare key or convince Ng to unlock the room door, Ng’s sister called for police help. The sister’s age was not disclosed in court documents.

Later that day, Ng created a public Facebook account combining her sister’s name and her sister’s boyfriend’s name. She used the other woman’s photo as the profile picture and uploaded a cover photo of the couple, with a caption alleging that her sister had “many affairs with men”.

Ng also wrote a message there, which read that her sister had killed “bosses, managers and customers” and was “worst than inhumane beast”.

She then sent her sibling a request to add her as a friend using the Facebook account she had created.

Ng also later sent an email to the human resource department of her sister’s employer, alleging similar things.

Then, on March 24, Mdm Tay left the gates of her flat unlocked and her mobile phone on the sofa while carrying a food delivery order into the kitchen. Ng then dashed into the flat and took the phone.

The next day, Ng called her mother several times from various unknown numbers, threatening to keep the phone forever unless Mdm Tay willed all her assets to her.

When Mdm Tay refused, Ng told her that she would be knocked down by cars if she left the house.

Ng’s sentence was backdated to April 8, when she was first remanded. District Judge Kessler Soh arranged for her and her family members to attend a community court conference.