Woman who claims to be daughter of elderly man in dispute with couple 'outraged' by incident

SINGAPORE - A woman who identified herself as the daughter of the elderly man caught in a dispute with a couple at a hawker centre has spoken out about the incident, expressing her outrage and 'disgust' at how her father was treated. 

The argument, which occurred on April 21 over a 'reserved' seat at a hawker centre at Toa Payoh Lorong 8, saw the woman spewing expletives at the elderly man, while her male companion shoved him from behind, almost causing the man to fall.

A video recorded by a witness and shared on Facebook sparked an online witch-hunt for the pair.

Read also: Couple scolds elderly uncle for wanting to sit at 'reserved' hawker centre table

In her post on Tuesday morning, Ms Caroline Ng, said she had just seen the online posts and watched the video of the altercation between her father and the young couple.

"Today, no words can express my outrage and disgust to learn of an incident that happened to my dad," she wrote.

She added that she found it unbelievable how her father did not mention a word of the incident to his family, as he thought it was pointless to pursue the matter.

"What I find unbelievable is for the entire 2 days, my dad never for (sic) once mentioned a word of it."

"In his own words, he tells me he didn't think anything will come out of it, will the police even act on it? ..does it make sense to pursue it?.. Furthermore, will anyone even going to (sic) believe him? It will be just his words ...So what can he do?"

She said: "Bottom line is (doesn't matter who is there first), my dad only wanted to share the table, there were only 2 of them (the couple) and their food wasn't even ready...will it kill them just to share the seats??!"

"No matter who is in the right or wrong, nobody should be treated in this manner, let alone to an old folk."

Ms Ng said the incident made her realise that many elderly may have fell victim to similar "unruly beviour" but does "not think they have a voice" or a cause for appropriate action to be taken.

She thanked the people who have shown support for her father, and also apologised to a student, Ms Cherry Tan, who had been wrongly identified by a netizen as the woman in the video.

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Ms Ng advised anyone who could identify the couple to notify the police, instead of resorting to cyberbullying or revealing their personal details.

The case is under police investigation, according to Shin Min Daily News on Monday, after several police reports were lodged.

A petition has also been raised by a member of the public for legal action to be taken against the couple.

candicec@sph.com.sg

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