S'pore man granted court order to stop sister from entering his room over 8 years to clean it

For around eight years, a woman in Singapore had been entering a shared room utilised by her brother and sister at their parent's house late at night to clean it until the wee hours of the morning.

Her actions caused the brother so much distress that he had to be admitted to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) a few times.

On one occasion when tensions escalated, the brother assaulted the sister who kept entering the room.

The two eventually went to a family court to obtain court orders against each other.

Both were granted personal protection orders (PPO) against each other, while a partial domestic exclusion order (DEO) covering his bedroom was granted for the brother.

Dispute over cleaning room

According to a judgment made available on Oct. 31, the brother's chief complaint was that his sister repeatedly went into his bedroom to clean it.

He felt that his privacy was intruded and it had caused him stress to the point that he was admitted to IMH a few times.

The sister, in her defence, explained that she merely wanted to clean the room as her siblings did not do so.

On the other hand, her PPO application against the brother related to an incident when tensions erupted over the cleaning issue and he assaulted her.

Cleaning late at night

According to the brother, the sister who kept intruding his personal space would enter his room sometime between 10pm or 11pm until 4am.

This was corroborated by the other sister, who shared the room with the brother.

The sister who shared the room with the brother stated that their sister "choose the wrong timing to clean the room", and that she would keep coming back every night, and would do so in the middle of the night and remain there until 3am or 6am.

When asked why she felt the need to go to their parents’ house at 10pm, the sister replied: "Because I need to work, my dear."

She explained that she has to go according to her schedule and free time.

"I cannot say, you want me to come at 8am, means 8am. I’m not their maid, I’m not their worker," she said.

The other sister also explained that this issue has been ongoing for eight years, causing them distress and often having to rush back home just to lock their door to prevent the sister from entering.

Cleaned the room for hygiene purposes

Meanwhile, the sister who did the cleaning claimed that she had to clean her sibling's room for hygiene purposes.

She said: "No, if the person does housework themselves, clean up their own room themselves, it’s fine."

However, she claimed her siblings did not lift "one finger" to do so at the age of 40.

"They can even let lizards go into the cupboard and stay inside there and breed and let cockroach, um, lay eggs all these things," she added.

However, there was no evidence to show that the brother’s room was in such a squalid state that it had to be cleaned frequently against his will, the judge noted.

Photos provided by the sister only showed at most a messy house, he said, adding that it was not a house in such a state that she had to clean the brother’s room in the wee hours of the night against his will.

Decision

In coming to the decisions, the judge said he granted the sister’s PPO application against the brother as it was not disputed that he had physically assaulted her.

He also granted both the PPO and partial DEO to the brother.

He explained that there are two threshold requirements that must be met before a court may grant a PPO:

1. The court must be satisfied that family violence has been committed or is likely to be committed.
2. The PPO must be necessary for the protection of the family member.

The judge said the sole issue is whether the sister’s acts in repeatedly entering the brother’s room to clean it amounted to “continual harassment with intent to cause or knowing that it is likely to cause anguish to [the brother]”.

While he accepted that a sibling cleaning another sibling’s room would be harmless ordinarily, he also acknowledged that what may be harmless under one set of circumstances might be highly distressing in other circumstances.

It is not difficult to imagine that having someone in one’s bedroom in the wee hours of the night would be disruptive and distressing, he added.

Sister caused anguish to brother

The judge also noted that the sister was aware that the brother did not want her in his room but continued to do so.

Even if the door was locked, she would enter through other means.

Another thing of note was that the sister had "no insight into the impact of her conduct on her brother", the judge said.

When queried whether she was willing to stop going into the brother’s room given his discomfort, she replied that if he is uncomfortable, he can "stay out" as the unit belongs to their father.

"Because literally, he don’t upkeep his room and he’ll breed all the pest," she said.

As a result of the "lack of insight and her clear insistence" that she would continue entering the brother’s room despite knowing his distress, the judge found it necessary to grant both a PPO and a partial DEO for the brother’s protection.

Top photo from Canva