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Couple in shoving incident at Toa Payoh hawker centre charged

Tay Puay Leng (left) and Chow Chiun Yee (right, wearing spectacles) leaving the State Courts. Photo: Wan Ting Koh/Yahoo Singapore
Tay Puay Leng (left) and Chow Chiun Yee (right, wearing spectacles) leaving the State Courts. Photo: Wan Ting Koh/Yahoo Singapore

A couple who drew widespread condemnation for their aggressive behaviour towards an elderly man in a Toa Payoh hawker centre were charged in court on Thursday (15 June).

Chow Chuin Yee, 45, and his girlfriend Tay Puay Leng, 38, were caught in a viral video of the incident, which first made rounds in April this year. Both were filmed quarrelling with 76 year-old Ivor Ng Ai Hua over seat reservation in the hawker centre at Toa Payoh Lorong 8.

In the video, Chow, a Malaysian, was seen shoving the man in the back. Chow was charged with one count of using criminal force and one count of disorderly behaviour in a public place. Tay was charged with one count of using abusive words on the victim.

The video sparked an uproar online, with many sharing an online petition calling for civil action to be taken against the couple.

According to past media reports, Chow is a director of a tuition centre while his girlfriend is a mathematics tutor at the centre.

Chow was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt while Tay was dressed in a brown blouse and skirt as the charges were read out to them in the State Courts

According to court documents, the incident occurred on 21 April at Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Market and Food Centre around 8.35pm.

Following the incident, a woman claiming to be Ng’s daughter said in a Facebook post that she was outraged and disgusted by the couple’s behaviour towards her father, whom she said never mentioned a word of the incident.

The video even sparked an online manhunt for the couple’s identities, resulting in a woman being wrongly identified as a culprit. Several police reports were made and the couple were arrested on 25 April following investigations.

The couple will next appear in court on 12 July.

Both are represented by lawyer S Balamurugan.

If convicted of using criminal force on a person, Chow faces a jail term of up to three months and/or a fine of $1,500. If convicted for disorderly behaviour in a public place, he could be jailed for up to six months and/or fined up to $2,000 on his first conviction.

If convicted of causing harassment or distress by using insulting words or behaviour, Tay faces a jail term of up to six months and/or a maximum fine of $5,000.

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