S'pore woman, 52, who put feet up in bus, tells judge she wants a trial when all charges given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal

A 52-year-old woman was in court on Jul. 7 to face the five charges against her for her antics on public buses in Singapore.

Tan Wee Teng was once allegedly asked to remove her feet from a seat, only for her to put them against a bus pole.

A video of her doing that has made the rounds online.

@bbidaaaa aiya auntie pls be considerate lah 😭😡 #sgbus #kakibusuk ♬ Backsound Lucu - Faid rafanda

In total, the incidents she was involved in took place between August 2023 and August 2024.

Tan was accused of two counts of public nuisance, two counts of criminal force and harassment, CNA reported.

Kept putting feet up

Charge sheets showed that she had refused to put her feet down after she had put them on a pole on bus service 198 at a bus stop along Jurong Town Hall Road at about 10am on Aug. 30, 2023.

This caused annoyance to passengers who had to disembark and disrupted the public bus service.

On Oct. 26, 2023 evening, she again allegedly put her feet on a pole, which caused annoyance to passengers on bus service 99 in Boon Lay and they also had to disembark.

Hit a man

On Jan. 19, 2024 morning, she allegedly harassed Mohamed Razli Sanusi by cursing at him on bus service 180 along Jurong Town Hall Road.

She also used a walking aid to hit his inner calf.

Tan was given a 12-month conditional warning for these four offences.

Faced a 5th charge

But she faced a fifth charge for hitting bus driver Ding Shuai's arm on bus service 99 at about 11:40am on Aug. 23, 2024.

Tan was in court on Monday for a hearing about this case.

Given 3-year conditional warning

The prosecutor sought for all five charges to be given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal, and Tan would be given a three-year conditional warning.

She would be at risk of being prosecuted for a fresh offence and the old ones if she offended again.

Claimed she was set up by bus driver

Tan protested and said three years was "very excessive" and claimed that she was "set up" by the bus driver, who provoked Tan to get her to retaliate.

Tan claimed she was "innocent" and had been crime-free for 12 months.

"I would rather go to trial," said Tan, according to CNA.

"Because the complainant was not a victim but a self-confessed perjurer!"

Tan claimed the driver had hit her first, and she retaliated and "tapped her lightly".

Tan also claimed that the bus driver had said "no need la" when asked if she needed an ambulance and she had allegedly said it "in a very sarcastic tone" and had "exaggerated" to "blow up the whole thing".

No lawyer representation

Tan even broke down in court and said she was "arrested for a serious offence" even though she did not commit it.

District Judge Lorraine Ho had to explain proceedings to Tan several times, as the accused did not have a lawyer.

The previous lawyer from the Public Defender's Office was discharged.

Footage shown in court

The judge requested surveillance footage of the alleged hit to be shown in court.

Tan was seen boarding a bus.

The driver reached out her hand towards Tan, and Tan reacted to the bus driver.

The back-and-forth to clarify Tan's antics lasted two hours, according to CNA.

What accused said

The accused said she would hold her handbag at the fare gate and there was no sound.

The bus driver apparently recognised Tan and her antics of not paying for the bus ride.

In response to the bus driver asking Tan verbally to tap her card, Tan would ask the bus driver to open the door so she can alight.

The judge then asked Tan to clarify if could not pay the bus fare and Tan responded that the bus driver intentionally hit her so that she would retaliate.

Asked for a trial

The judge granted the prosecution's application to have all five charges given a discharge not amounting to acquittal, with the option for the prosecution to revive the charges if the accused "commits fresh offences during the 36-month conditional warning".

Tan asked if she could request for trial once the judge made the decision.

"I want to be prosecuted by the AGC," she said as she was "very curious" what evidence they had against her, according to CNA.

For committing public nuisance, she could have been fined up to S$2,000 for a first offence.

Repeat offenders can be jailed up to three months.

For using criminal force, she could have been jailed for up to three months, fined up to S$1,500, or both.

For harassment, she could be jailed for up to six months, fined up to S$5,000, or both.

Top photos via @bbidaaaa/TikTok