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Trio jailed over rampage at Upper Serangoon Teochew porridge stall

The Heng Long Teochew Porridge stall in Upper Serangoon. (PHOTO: Google Street View screengrab)
The Heng Long Teochew Porridge stall in Upper Serangoon. (PHOTO: Google Street View screengrab)

Unhappy with a waitress at a Teochew porridge stall, a woman decided to hurl her bowl into the eatery. Her two male companions then proceeded to wreak havoc on the property.

In the span of a minute, the trio caused a total of $10,285.42 in damage.

For their actions, Pang Pei Pei, 41, was jailed four weeks while Ang Sim Poh, 49, and Tan Sung Meng, 47, were jailed six weeks’ each, at the State Courts on Thursday (3 May).

Pang received a lesser sentence as she had been remanded for two weeks at the Institute of Mental Health for a psychiatric evaluation, said District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt.

Ang and Tan pleaded guilty to one count each of committing a rash act, while Pang pleaded guilty to one count of causing mischief with common intention at Heng Long Teochew Porridge, located along Upper Serangoon Road, on 26 May last year.

A fourth man, Yeo Keng Hock, 53, was with the three at the time of the incident. All four were friends and regular patrons of Heng Long Teochew Porridge stall.

On the day of the incident, the group had met in the late afternoon to drink beer. They continued consuming alcohol until 3am the following morning, after which they shared a taxi to Heng Long for supper. The four were drunk by the time they arrived at the food stall.

After paying $50 to the waitress, Chia Ai Cheng, for their food and receiving the change, Pang began asking Chia for their bill.

As she continued to question Chia, she grew increasingly agitated – to the point that she flung her bowl of porridge into the stall. Following her lead, Ang and Tan also threw their porridge bowls into the stall and then began smashing other items into the stall’s food counter. The two men also threw a pot of porridge onto the ground.

Footage from two CCTV cameras which captured the incident showed a waitress and other customers at the stall backing away in alarm as the two men throw their wooden stools at the stall. The rampage went on for a minute before the group left.

The prosecution asked for a jail term of eight weeks for each of the accused.

Lawyers for each of the three sought fines for the clients, whom they maintained had committed the offence on the spur of the moment. They said that their clients were unable and not unwilling to offer compensation for their actions. Ang and Pang are unemployed while Tan is a technician.

Pang’s lawyer said in mitigation that her client has six children and was currently undergoing a divorce from her husband. She also suffers from acute situational reaction disorder in which causes her to get angry more easily than others.

Lawyer S Balamurugan, who represented Tan, said his client accepted that his actions were “uncivilised and foolish”. He said his client had been looking for a breakdown of the bill and did not mean to “frustrate the waitress”.

However, the manner in which the waitress engaged with the three triggered the incident, Balamurugan added.

Lawyer Supramaniam Rajan said Ang had a “good rapport with the management and staff of the restaurant” but had also been provoked by the waitress’ behaviour.

Chay noted that the trio’s actions were “completely disproportionate” in relation to what the waitress allegedly said. “The bill (was) $28, not $280 or $2,800,” he pointed out.

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