S'porean woman, 54, gets 6 months' jail for assaulting 3 people near preschool, previously fined for harassing nurse neighbour during pandemic

A repeat offender who assaulted three people and was a public nuisance near a pre-school has been sentenced to jail.

On Aug. 17, 2026, 54-year-old Singaporean Lim Sok Lay, who was in remand, was sentenced to six months and two weeks' jail after pleading guilty to two counts of assault, one count of being a public nuisance, and one count of voluntarily causing hurt to a security officer.

Lim was previously fined S$4,000 in 2022 and another S$4,000 in 2025 after harassing her neighbour, a nurse during the Covid-19 outbreak and for causing a commotion during her son's lion dance competition, respectively.

Some offences committed with daughter

Some of Lim's latest offences were committed with her daughter, 29-year-old Jolene Cheang Wan Ling.

Lim and Cheang faced 13 and 12 charges respectively.

Cheang pleaded guilty to one count each of assault, criminal intimidation and being a public nuisance.

She was sentenced to five months’ jail and a fine of S$1,500. Cheang's bail has been set at S$20,000, and she is expected to begin serving her sentence in September.

Yelled at pre-school teacher and children

According to court documents seen by Mothership, on Sep. 24, 2026, at about 9:30am to 10:15am, a female pre-school teacher was bringing a group of children to board the lift at One Punggol community hub.

Lim and Cheang went up to them and began shouting and gesticulating.

Lim also shouted about alleged child abuse, amongst other things.

Two male passersby intervened to protect the teacher and the children from potential harm.

After the teacher and her students entered the lift, Lim and Cheang began chasing one of the passers-by with the intention to physically attack him.

Hit passerby on head multiple times

The other passer-by, a 32-year-old Singapore permanent resident (PR), tried to stop Lim and Cheang from hitting the man, but they turned their attention to him instead.

Both women grabbed the PR's arms before hitting him on the head with their hands multiple times.

The attack, which was captured on CCTV footage, only stopped when a mall security guard intervened.

The PR sought treatment at Sengkang Polyclinic on the same day, where he was found to have a scrape on his left forearm and bruising behind his right ear.

Shouted profanities in school compound

In a separate incident, the two women and Lim's husband brought Cheang's son to a preschool in Edgefield Plains, Punggol before 8:53am on Jul. 18, 2025.

While at the foyer, Lim and Cheang shouted profanities and gesticulated.

Several people heard the shouting, and at around 8:53am, a member of the public called the police.

History of conflict with security officers

According to court documents, Lim and Cheang had some previous conflict with the security officers at Sparkletots.

After sending Cheang's son into the school premises, the family walked towards the exit, and as they walked past the security officers, Lim and Cheang took out their phones and started taking videos of the security officers.

According to court documents, a 51-year-old security officer anticipated that the trio would cause trouble and switched on his body-worn camera.

Lim hurled vulgarities at the security officer.

Another 72-year-old security officer took out his mobile phone to record a video of the situation, and at some point, he remarked that the trio was "crazy".

Enraged, Cheang attempted to snatch his phone away and tried to take a photo or video of his security pass.

The officer called for assistance through his walkie-talkie.

Pulled domestic worker's hair

A couple who were taking their four-year-old son to another pre-school nearby heard the commotion.

The husband told Cheang not to use vulgarities, but instead of stopping, Cheang walked up to the wife and said: "f*ck you and this is not your problem". The husband called the police.

As Cheang and Lim were walking away from the situation, they bumped into a Filipino domestic worker who was taking her employer's son to the same preschool as Cheang's son.

According to court documents, the children had a past conflict.

Cheang and Lim tried to ask the domestic worker if they could speak to her employers, but she refused, and a scuffle arose.

Lim and Cheang proceeded to pull the domestic worker's hair, prompting eyewitnesses, including the 51-year-old security officer, to intervene.

Punched security officer and took body-worn camera

The security officer told Lim and Cheang that he had a body-worn camera recording the incident.

Lim grabbed the camera off the officer and punched him on his left ear; the S$210 camera was taken and has not been recovered.

The mother-daughter duo was arrested later that day and ordered to be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).

Grabbed nurse's lanyard causing him to have breathing difficulties

On Jul. 20, 2025, while at IMH, Lim refused to return to her cubicle after speaking to Cheang as she was a co-accused.

A crisis alert team was activated soon after.

Lim was initially cooperative but turned aggressive after she heard Cheang screaming in the background.

Lim, who was lying down on her bed, kicked around before grabbing the lanyard of a 58-year-old Filipino nurse.

Lim grabbed the nurse's lanyard, causing him to have breathing difficulties until another staff nurse managed to intervene and break the lanyard.

Lim also scratched him on his left collarbone and bit him on his elbow.

IMH staff restrained Lim using restrainers and rapid tranquilisation.

The victim sought treatment and was diagnosed with neck tenderness with pain on breathing and swallowing; he was also diagnosed with a bite wound on his right elbow and left chest tenderness.

Threatened to kill nurse's family

In IMH, Cheang was allowed to have one physical visit per week by her next-of-kin.

She had initially requested a physical visit by her father, which was set to take place on Jul. 26, 2025.

However, on Jul. 24, 2025, she requested a tele-visit, which was approved but would therefore replace the physical visit that was scheduled.

Cheang requested the physical visit nonetheless, and on Jul. 26, 2025, at around 2:30pm, a 25-year-old female nurse explained to her that it was not possible.

Cheang, who was displeased, started banging her head against the wall.

She threatened the nurse and said: "If I am going out, I will go kill your family members".

“I want to talk to my father now or else you all wait.”

She repeated the threat multiple times.

Reoffended and stole items from supermarket

After their release from IMH, Lim and Cheang were offered bail but reoffended in August 2025.

They stole S$53.60 worth of items but made full restitution later.

However, on Mar. 27, 2026, they went to another preschool in Punggol, shouted and caused annoyance to the staff.

On Mar. 26, 2026, bail conditions were revised; Lim and Cheang were unable to furnish their bail and were remanded.

On Apr. 28, 2026, bail conditions for Cheang were revised and furnished.

Cheang has been on bail since.