• Farhana Mohamed Suwati, 31, pleaded guilty to two offences including using insulting behaviour on her neighbour
• She placed raw beef on the doorstep of the neighbour
• Farhana suffers from a mental illness, though further details were not disclosed in open court

SINGAPORE — A 31-year-old woman pleaded guilty on Wednesday (April 21) to harassing her neighbours on two occasions last year.

Farhana Mohamed Suwati, a Singaporean, admitted to one charge each of mischief and using insulting behaviour that caused distress to her neighbour. A third charge of committing a rash act will be taken into consideration for sentencing.

District Judge Eddy Tham called for a report to assess if she is suitable for a mandatory treatment order. This is a community sentencing option offered to offenders suffering from mental conditions that contributed to the offence.

No details were given in open court on what type of mental illness Farhana has; only that she was diagnosed with a condition at the Institute of Mental Health.

The court heard that Farhana, who has been in remand for about a month, had placed the beef on her neighbour’s doorstop around 11pm on May 20 last year. She then shouted “wei” — an exclamation apparently aimed at getting the neighbour’s attention — and left.

This was during the circuit breaker period imposed to stem the spread of Covid-19, where people were allowed to leave their homes only for essential purposes such as buying groceries.

Farhana admitted to doing this because she perceived that in early 2019, her neighbour had molested her, so she intended to scare him and give a warning. She believed that he was in the flat as the television was on.

However, the man’s 79-year-old mother was the one watching television at the time. The mother felt “distressed and angry", especially as she did not eat beef, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tin Shu Min told the court.

The older woman’s son-in-law made a police report, saying: “Neighbour threw something to my mother-in-law house. They have history before this.”

A few months later on Sept 10, the man and his mother were sitting on their sofa at home when Farhana shouted vulgarities in English and Malay at them. The main door of their unit was open but the gate was locked.

While in the common corridor, Farhana removed five aluminium window panels and three metal rods from their living room window, throwing the panels into the flat.

She admitted to doing this because she was easily annoyed by noises made by people and would eventually “explode” in anger.

DPP Tin said: “Earlier that day, she had heard a cough from the unit and felt disturbed. She then heard another sound from the unit when she was taking out the trash and lost her patience.”

The window was later reassembled but Farhana had damaged and bent three of the metal rods and broken a fourth one.

The Housing and Development Board paid S$82.73 for the window to be repaired.

DPP Tin revealed that Farhana was jailed for six months and six weeks in 2019 for committing a rash act and carrying a weapon in a public place.

For committing mischief, she could be jailed for up to two years or fined, or punished with both. For using insulting behaviour, she could be jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$5,000, or both.

• Clarification: An earlier version of this article stated that the mother was Hindu, which was based on information contained in court documents. The Attorney-General’s Chambers has clarified that she is, in fact, not Hindu.