• Former actor Ng Aik Leong, better known as Huang Yiliang, said he was “playing” with a Bangladeshi worker, not attacking him
• He also called the worker who lived with him a “good friend”
• The worker told the court that he was afraid of Ng and started recording their conversations before the alleged attack

SINGAPORE — Former Channel 8 actor Ng Aik Leong, better known as Huang Yiliang and who is accused of attacking a Bangladeshi worker with a metal scraper, claimed that he was “faking punches” during the assault. He also claimed that he was “playing” with the worker.

That was how he ended up “crazily” thrusting the scraper at the worker at least 10 times.

Ng, 59, was in court on Monday (Nov 30) and had to defend himself via a Chinese interpreter because he was not represented by a lawyer.

He was cross-examining the worker, 35-year-old Jahidul, whom he had hired in October 2018 under a firm called HYL. 

Ng had claimed trial over one charge of voluntarily causing hurt by a dangerous weapon.

He is said to have hit Mr Jahidul on the head and scratched his abdomen twice with the scraper at the Singapore Islamic Hub on Dec 11, 2018.

In court, Ng put it to Mr Jahidul that he was not hurt at the time: “You didn’t get injured. I was faking those movements… You are an ungrateful person.”

Ng also claimed that Mr Jahidul had asked Ng to “groom” him and help him progress in his work and to do so by hitting him. Ng then wanted to document on paper that he would be allowed to beat the worker as a result. 

Mr Jahidul, who was given time to reply to each claim, denied Ng’s account, including Ng’s testimony that he treated Mr Jahidul as a “good friend”.

“No such thing. He never treated me like his friend,” the worker said.

He also said that he was afraid of Ng because Ng would often scold him using vulgarities.

He testified that Ng could not have been joking or playing with him at the time of attack, because Ng looked angry.

“You are angry with me all the time. You are not playing a fool,” Mr Jahidul added.

The worker was so fearful of his boss that he started recording Ng’s threatening words in secret, he said.

Three of these recordings were played in court.

The first clip, which lasted more than seven minutes, was recorded in November 2018 at Sim Lim Square, where Ng and the worker were performing some maintenance work at a water tank.

When Mr Jahidul was helping Ng take photos of a manhole for reporting to national water agency PUB, Ng was heard lecturing the worker using Hokkien vulgarities.

Mr Jahidul said that Ng tried to kick him and use a hammer to hit him after that, which was why there was some shouting heard over the recording.

The second clip lasted close to 14 minutes and was recorded in the lorry when Ng was reprimanding Mr Jahidul for paying a vendor 50 cents extra and challenging Mr Jahidul to a fight.

Ng was later heard saying: “Boss very smart. Boss experience also very good. Boss angry also very fast… Boss is a very dangerous people. Boss can kill you, understand?”

The third recording, which was more than 14 minutes long, was taken at Ng’s home, where they both resided.

Ng, who was unhappy that Mr Jahidul had fetched him a pair of pants that were too small, was heard again using expletive-laden language and telling the worker to “sign” on a document so that he could challenge him to a fight.

Regarding this incident, Ng told the court that the pair of pants were for a six- to seven-year-old child, “obviously” not his size.

When Mr Jahidul said that it cannot be because they were “duty pants” that were retrieved from a box filled with dirty and old pants, Ng protested: “The pants that you passed to me was my outfit when I was shooting (a) movie. Those belonged to children six to seven years old. You intentionally made me angry.”

Ng also argued that Mr Jahidul had recorded just “5 per cent” of their interactions and claimed that he was being framed.

He alleged that the worker “plotted everything secretly and waited for the situation to take place”.

“I am a lovely person,” he told the court at one point.

In reply to Deputy Public Prosecutor Kee En Chong who asked how the alleged attack had affected him, Mr Jahidul said that he now gets nightmares and would suddenly wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the incident.

He added: “I live with (Ng). I have no guarantee if anything would happen to me and cost (me) my life. I was also worried about my family. I am married and have two small children. I was worried for them.”

Now that Ng is accusing him of lying and being ungrateful, Mr Jahidul said: “After working so hard for him, I tried my best. And him saying all these things really breaks my heart.”

If found guilty of voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon, Ng can be jailed up to seven years and fined. He cannot be caned because he is more than 50 years old. 

Ng faces a second charge of affray, but it has been stood down or set aside while this trial is ongoing.

The trial continues on Tuesday.