Woman gets fine for pouring coffee on lion dance costume, disrupting competition
The judge said that the offender's actions were malicious, unwarranted and unreasonable.
Lim Sok Lay arrives at the State Courts on Feb 26, 2025. The 52-year-old woman had poured coffee on a lion dance costume. (Photo: CNA)
This audio is generated by an AI tool.
SINGAPORE: A woman who poured coffee on a lion dance costume and kicked its head at West Coast Community Centre in 2023 was fined S$4,000 (US$2,990) on Wednesday (Feb 26).
Lim Sok Lay, 52, had been upset with her son over his involvement with the lion dance troupe.
She earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of mischief and using criminal force, with two other charges taken into consideration for her sentencing.
Her husband, Cheang Eng Hock, 60, also faces similar charges and is set to plead guilty on Mar 19.
The court earlier heard that the couple did not like their son associating with the troupe, believing it to be a bad influence on him.
On Jul 29, 2023, knowing that their son's troupe was performing at West Coast Community Centre, the couple went there to confront the members. Lim poured coffee over the troupe's lion dance costume, causing stains that could not be removed. She also kicked the head of the costume.
She caused damage amounting to S$1,330, as the costume could no longer be used in lion dance competitions.
A crowd of about 200 people were at the competition, and Lim's actions disrupted the event for about 10 minutes.
In an earlier incident in February 2023, Lim pushed a man whom she believed had scratched her baby grandson's nose. This was after the victim, a distant acquaintance of the family, offered to carry Lim's five-month-old grandson.
After noticing a scratch on the baby's nose later that night, she believed that the man had caused it, although there was no evidence to prove this. The next morning, Lim confronted the victim at a coffee shop and pushed him five times before walking away.
Lim has since made voluntary partial payment of S$665 to the lion dance troupe.
This was one of the factors that District Judge Lorraine Ho took into account for sentencing.
While she acknowledged that Lim had been emotional, the judge said that the accused's actions had been "clearly malicious, unwarranted and unreasonable".
While the accused had been of the view that she was simple-minded, her unruly behaviour was nonetheless not the way to teach her child a lesson, the judge said, noting that Lim had also delayed the competition.
