A married couple has been hauled to court on May 21 and charged with a slew of harassment offences against their next-door neighbours, comprising a nurse from Sengkang General Hospital (SKH), his wife and two children.

Multiple charges

A man, Cheang Eng Hock, 56, was handed two harassment charges.

His wife, Lim Sok Lay, 48, is facing five charges of using insulting words or behaviour under the Protection from Harassment Act and another unrelated charge of public nuisance.

The incidents occurred at a HDB block of flats at Edgefield Plains in Punggol.

Lim is also accused of spraying disinfectant at her neighbours’ flat on Oct. 21 and Dec. 10, 2020, and hurling multiple vulgarities at the unit's occupants on Nov. 11 last year.

Both of them shouted “Covid”, “Covid spreader”, “virus” or “virus family” and sprayed disinfectant at their neighbours’ direction between May 13 and 15, 2020, court documents showed.

Allegedly shouted at nurse at SKH

The couple had also allegedly uttered derogatory phrases at a man at SKH on Jan. 8, 2021.

They allegedly said, “This nurse gangster”, “This nurse no good” and “This Malay nurse very bad”.

But it was not specified if the victim is the couple's neighbour.

Allegedly shouted at Ngee Ann City

On Feb. 21, 2021, she also allegedly raised her voice and continuously shouted loudly at Ngee Ann City shopping mall, despite a police officer giving her several warnings.

More charges could follow

In court, it was heard that Cheang could be slapped with two more charges in relation to the nurse.

The husband was offered bail of S$5,000 and will return to court on June 18.

Remanded at IMH

The wife was ordered by the judge to be remanded in the Institute of Mental Health for two weeks to undergo a psychiatric assessment.

She will return to court on June 6.

Lim and Cheang could be jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$5,000, or punished with both, if convicted.

Anyone convicted of public nuisance can be jailed for up to three months or fined up to S$2,000, or both.

Background

Multiple videos of the couple harassing their neighbours were put up on social media by the victims.

The victims revealed in captions on Instagram videos that both sides had a good relationship the past six years.

But this stopped when the Covid-19 pandemic occurred.

The neighbours learnt that the victims were "frontliners" -- the husband is a nurse and his wife worked as an essential service provider.

The harassment allegedly persisted over the course of almost a year.