Man confronts noisy hawker with a knife

He was irked by the drilling noise coming from a hawker stall at the foot of his HDB block.

So he decided to take matters into his own hands by confronting and scolding the hawker - twice in five minutes.

On the second occasion, he went to the noodle stall with his father while carrying a knife.

The hawker was shocked and called the police.

Yesterday, Goh Buck Song, 41, appeared in court and was fined $1,000 for causing alarm to Mr Chiong Chee San, 39, who was carrying out minor renovation works at his noodle stall at about 3.30pm on Jan 17, a Saturday.

Goh, a food seller, lives on the second storey of Block 338, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1, and one storey above Mr Chiong's noodle stall.

At about 5.30pm, Goh went to Mr Chiong's stall and scolded the hawker for the noise caused by the renovation works.

Goh grabbed a glass cup that was on the counter of the stall and threw it to the floor, smashing it, before returning to his flat.

HEATED ARGUMENT

At about 5.35pm, Goh's father left their apartment and headed for the noodle stall, where he got into a heated argument with Mr Chiong, also about the noise from the renovation works.

When Goh heard what was happening, he grabbed a 25cm-long knife, which had a 14cm-long square tip blade and a green handle, from his kitchen and headed downstairs.

He approached the noodle stall once again with the knife in his hand and scolded Mr Chiong a second time. Upon seeing the knife, Mr Chiong became alarmed.

Goh then left the scene with his father.

Meanwhile, a shocked Mr Chiong called the police, who arrested Goh and later seized the knife.

Yesterday, Goh, who was unrepresented, turned up in court to receive his sentence.

A separate charge of mischief for smashing the glass cup was taken into consideration for sentencing.

Goh could have been jailed up to six months and fined up to $5,000 under the Protection from Harassment Act.

rloh@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on Feb 24, 2015.
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