Sembawang hostage drama: Terrified neighbour locks herself in her flat
A 39 year-old suspect being taken away in a police car after the hostage incident. (Yahoo Singapore photo: Safhras Khan)
Alia, 54, a resident of Block 462 Sembawang Drive, was terrified to leave home for work on Wednesday (28 September) morning as a hostage situation was ongoing just one floor below her flat. She had been locking herself in her flat since Tuesday evening.
Her sense of unease was heightened when she saw police officers positioning themselves at the corridor outside her flat. By then, she had already found out about a boy being held hostage in a flat on the fifth floor.
A 39-year-old man had been holding the two-year-old boy hostage for more than 17 hours. He was arrested at about 12 pm on Wednesday after police officers from the Special Operations Command stormed the flat.
The man will be charged with wrongful confinement and drug-related offences, the police said.
Yahoo Singapore understands that the boy’s mother, who was nearby when the hostage situation was taking place, was also arrested for drug-related offences and that police will be working together with the Ministry of Social and Family on the well-being of the child.
Unfolding hostage drama
Alia, who is staying with her mother and a 19-year-old daughter, decided not to leave her flat as she was concerned about her mother. On Wednesday morning, she contacted her supervisor who gave her the day off.
The single mother, who works as a packer, sensed that something was amiss on Tuesday evening as she noticed that the block of rented flats was cordoned off to the public while she was on her way home from work.
After being informed by a police officer about a hostage situation while she was just outside her flat, she quickly went back in and locked the door as she was afraid of the situation spilling over to her floor.
Speaking to Yahoo Singapore about an hour after the suspect was arrested, Alia said that the boy’s mother, whom she knows as Siti, is friendly. The neighbours often chatted for a while when they bumped into each other around the estate.
“She is very polite and I always see her with another man, whom I assumed was her husband, and a small boy. She will always talk to me,” she added.
Officers from the Special Operations Command stormed their way into a fifth floor unit and arrested the suspect. (Yahoo Singapore photo: Safhras Khan)
Argument over the boy
Another witness, whose mother is staying two units away from the hostage scene, said that she was informed of the situation by her mother on Tuesday night.
The witness, who only identified herself by her surname Rosli, said she noticed that the block was cordoned off when she visited her mother at about 9 pm.
“When I saw my mother, she told me that she heard the neighbouring couple arguing at about 5 pm and that the woman was chased out of the house. The woman then returned with an older woman and my mother heard the older woman screaming at the man in Malay to ‘let the boy go as he is not your son’”.
“I was concerned for my mother and decided to keep her company today,” said the 36-year-old housewife, who is staying near the block.
Rosli has seen the couple a number of times. When asked to describe the couple, she said that the woman has dyed blonde hair and of medium height while the man is tanned and has tattoos all over his body.
Police vehicles at Block 462 Sembawang Drive on Wednesday afternoon. (Yahoo Singapore photo: Safhras Khan)
Azlamia Saini, a resident on the sixth floor, said that she heard some commotion from a unit below her flat on Tuesday evening. But the 54-year-old housewife did not bother to find out more as it was common for her to hear neighbouring families arguing.
Azlamia, who is staying with her husband and daughter, said she does not know the woman personally.
However, she was surprised to find out that the incident had escalated overnight and turned into a hostage situation when she spoke to police officers outside her flat on Wednesday morning.
“They told me to remain indoors and not to worry as everything is under control. So I decided to stay in today and not even go to the market,” said Azlamia.
According to Alia, she had seen the couple with a child at the nearby supermarket on a number of occasions.
“They were very loving and I always see the three of them together. I never expected this to happen,” she said.
