{"id":77759,"date":"2026-08-19T21:26:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=77759"},"modified":"2026-08-19T21:26:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T13:26:06","slug":"man-jailed-for-assaulting-59-year-old-coffeeshop-employee-who-suffered-spinal-fracture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=77759","title":{"rendered":"Man jailed for assaulting 59-year-old coffeeshop employee, who suffered spinal fracture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE \u2013 A man who hit a coffeeshop drink <!-- -->stall <!-- -->attendant <!-- -->in the<!-- --> face with a plastic chair and placed her in a headlock has been sentenced to one year and six weeks\u2019 jail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On Aug 19, <!-- -->Mok Teck Nam, 65,<!-- --> pleaded guilty to a slew of offences, including voluntarily causing grievous hurt, using insulting words intending to cause harassment, and theft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Deputy Public Prosecutor Jolene Tan<!-- --> said that on <!-- -->Nov 9, 2025,<!-- --> Mok was intoxicated and sleeping on the ground at a coffeeshop in Towner Road, near Boon Keng MRT station.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">At around 3.30am, <!-- -->the<!-- --> 59-year-old drink stall employee tried to wake him up, but he responded by scolding her with Hokkien vulgarities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">As a verbal altercation ensued between<!-- --> them<!-- -->, Mok threw a plate of noodles at the employee\u2019s head.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">A video taken of the argument showed the employee\u2019s face and shirt stained with sauce. The police<!-- --> <!-- -->were<!-- --> called, and the employee held up a plastic chair to block Mok from leaving before the police arrived.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mok swung food trays <!-- -->at<!-- --> the employee\u2019s arm and an unknown object <!-- -->at<!-- --> her head, said the prosecutor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">He then placed<!-- --> the woman<!-- --> in a headlock, pushed her <!-- -->to<!-- --> the ground and used his body weight<!-- --> to<!-- --> prevent her from getting up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Picking<!-- --> up a plastic chair, he swung it several times to hit her head as she remained on the ground.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Mok left the scene before the police arrived, but was arrested later that day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The employee suffered a 3.5cm laceration on her scalp and a spine fracture.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Separately, Mok admitted to stealing a microphone worth $195 from a pub in Serangoon on Nov 5, 2025. He placed the microphone in his pants and covered it with his shirt before leaving the pub.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">His actions came to light when the director of the pub did a stock take and noticed one of the microphones was missing. Mok was ordered on Aug 19 to pay compensation for the microphone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">DPP Tan said Mok had previously been convicted of violence-related offences, including using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty in 2013 and voluntarily causing hurt in 2021.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cIt appears that he has remained undeterred and recalcitrant despite the sentences imposed on him,\u201d said the prosecutor. <!-- -->She urged<!-- --> the court to impose an overall jail term of<!-- --> between<!-- --> <!-- -->eight months, 19 weeks and two days, <!-- -->and<!-- --> 10 months, 20 weeks and two days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text-primary font-tertiary-body-baseline-regular\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Those convicted of voluntarily causing grievous hurt can be jailed for up to 10 years, and is liable to a fine or caning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/courts-crime\/man-jailed-for-assaulting-59-year-old-coffeeshop-employee-who-suffered-spinal-fracture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE \u2013 A man who hit a coffeeshop drink stall attendant in the face with a plastic chair and placed her in a headlock has&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":77760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/77760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}