Woman faints when son assaults brother at mortuary

SINGAPORE - A woman grieving over the death of her boyfriend was further agitated when her 2 sons started fighting at the mortuary over who could view the body.

Shin Min Daily reported that Mr Pheh Yong Cheng, 77, had fallen to his death from a block of flats on Thursday.

Madam Lian Bao Shi, 52, who lived with Pheh, had gone to the mortuary with her children on Friday to view the body of the deceased.

However, her sons started arguing about who should view the body, Wanbao reported. The fight started as they had mistakenly thought that only 3 people were allowed to do so. In fact, the rule states that only 3 people were allowed to enter the mortuary at any one time.

Witnesses saw the brothers in heated argument as they stormed out of the mortuary's office. The older brother, who was topless and barefooted at the time, was seen punching and kicking the younger brother. When the younger brother fell to the ground, the older brother continued to attack him, ignoring his wife's attempts to stop him.

At this point, their grief-stricken mother fell to the ground. Her younger son's wife then quickly attended to her.

Police were later called to the scene. It is understood that the dispute was eventually resolved amicably between the parties.

According to Shin Min, Madam Lian said that the deceased had behaved strangely before his death.

Both papers reported that Mr Pheh led a troubled life, having been in-and-out of prison at least 3 times for serious crimes including rape and manslaughter.

Madam Pheh said was aware that her boyfriend was an ex-convict but did not know the details about the crimes he committed. 

Pheh had previously expressed regret over his past, even advising Madam Lian's son not to be too rash and to not follow in his footsteps, the Chinese paper said.

ljessica@sph.com.sg