Woman chased, choked a 10-year-old girl
Woman pleads guilty to attacking 10-year-old at bus interchange
She regularly accompanies her father when he goes to work as an SBS Transit bus driver.
But on May 23, when Elizerbeth Chua Hui Ping, 25, saw a woman boarding her father's bus at Boon Lay Interchange with a drink, she got angry.
She started shouting at passengers and challenged them to a fight.
When one of the passengers asked her to calm down because she was scaring her 10-year-old daughter, Chua marched over and choked the girl.
When the terrified girl managed to slip away, Chua chased her around the interchange.
Chua was arrested and was released on bail on June 7.
But the next day, she attacked a 14-year-old girl at the same interchange.
Chua pleaded guilty in court yesterday to one count each of committing public nuisance, voluntarily causing hurt and using threatening behaviour towards the younger girl.
Two other charges - of committing public nuisance and voluntarily causing hurt to the older girl - will be taken into consideration during sentencing.
Chua had accompanied her father as he drove the 194 bus on May 23.
ACCOMPANY
Assistant Public Prosecutor Dillon Kok said Chua would routinely accompany him to work so that he could look out for her.
Court papers did not say why he needed to take care of her.
At about 1.10pm, passengers boarded the bus when it stopped at a boarding berth at the interchange.
But Chua spotted one of them with a drink and scolded her.
The woman got off, threw it away and returned to the bus, but that did not calm Chua down.
She became more agitated and continued creating a ruckus, prompting the young girl's mother to ask her to calm down and lower her volume.
The girl and her mother, who were seated near the driver, cannot be named due to a gag order.
When Chua attacked the child, her mother quickly stepped in and pushed Chua away.
The girl ran out of the bus in fear. Her mother went looking for her.
Chua followed the mum and they got into a scuffle, until passers-by separated them.
But Chua spotted the girl and chased her around the interchange.
The terrified child ran to the second storey and hid near a shop.
After some time, a passer-by accompanied her to the interchange office where her anxious mother was waiting.
The girl was taken to the National University Hospital, where she was treated for multiple scratches on the right side of her neck.
Chua, who is represented by lawyer Foo Juyuan, is out on bail of $10,000.
She will be back in court on July 18.
For voluntarily causing hurt, she can be jailed for up to two years and fined up to $5,000.
Angry woman attacks girl,10, at bus interchange
1. Elizerbeth Chua Hui Ping, 25, gets angry when she sees a woman carrying a drink into the SBS Transit bus her father drives.
2. Chua, still agitated, is asked by a woman to calm down. She chokes the woman's 10-year-old daughter.
3. Chua chases the girl around Boon Lay Bus Interchange.
4. The girl hides near a shop on the second storey of the interchange. A passer-by later takes her to the interchange office to her mother.
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