• Teoh Yee Leong said he could not tolerate the constant smoke any longer
• He has settled his neighbour's medical bill
• Teoh said he regretted losing his cool and was deeply remorseful 

SINGAPORE — A 39-year-old man was fined S$4,500 on Thursday (July 23) for beating up his neighbour, whose cigarette smoke had constantly wafted into the man’s flat. 

Out of frustration, Teoh Yee Leong threw eggs into his neighbour’s flat before punching him.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt to his 47-year-old neighbour, with another charge of harassment taken into consideration for sentencing.

The incident happened on May 24 last year at about 10.30pm. Both men live in the northeast region of Singapore — the exact location was removed from court documents.

Teoh went to the victim’s home, which was directly below his flat, and shouted at the victim and his wife. He also flung some eggs into their flat. 

The victim then opened his gate to talk to a disgruntled Teoh, who turned aggressive and punched the other man’s face. 

The neighbour began bleeding from his mouth and eventually left his flat to seek treatment at Sengkang General Hospital.

The attack left him with a 4cm cut over his left upper lip, with no other obvious injury. He was given a week of hospitalisation leave.

Teoh has since settled the victim’s medical bill of about S$710, which included follow-up treatment.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Nicholas Lim sought the maximum S$5,000 fine, saying that the victim’s injuries were rather minor.

In mitigation, Teoh — who did not have a lawyer — claimed that his neighbours had provoked and challenged him to a fight that evening. 

DPP Lim said that investigations into this were inconclusive, with both men giving differing accounts of what transpired. 

The victim said that Teoh began shouting vulgarities at him and challenged him to get out of his flat.

But Teoh told the court: “Every week, there is a big group of friends drinking beer and smoking in their house… for the past six months. We endured until that day. I couldn’t take it.”

He did not specify if people had gathered in his neighbour’s home during the circuit-breaker stay-home period from April to June, when people were barred from visiting the homes of others to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Teoh said that now that up to five people are allowed in the homes of others, he could still tolerate “one or two people” smoking.

Looking ahead to the day when restrictions on the size of gatherings are fully lifted, he said that he would not know what to do, and would probably “just endure and close the windows”.

Teoh added that he had asked his daughter to speak to his neighbours, but they chased her away and said that they could smoke freely in their home.

Smoking is allowed within public housing units, but not along common corridors, void decks, staircases and covered walkways of such estates. 

Teoh said: “What they did is they smoked, and on top of that, they sprayed Baygon (insecticide) up to my house, which made me very angry. So I went down and threw eggs into their house… but afterwards, I was very chill and cool.  

“I had no intention to hurt anyone. I just wanted to let them know the smoke irritated my family.” 

Even so, Teoh acknowledged that he regretted losing his cool and was deeply remorseful for his actions. 

“I hope Your Honour will be lenient, as I (live) with my parents and three children,” he told District Judge May Mesenas. 

In passing sentence, District Judge Mesenas said that she would convene a community court conference to deal with the matter and would have Teoh undergo counselling on handling difficult neighbours.

“If you don’t move (out of your flat), there has to be alternative ways to deal with such issues if they arise in the future,” the judge said. 

For voluntarily causing hurt, Teoh could have been jailed up to two years or fined up to S$5,000, or given both penalties.