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BEATEN, BEWILDERED, ALMOST BLINDED
Brutal attack on grandma leaves her soaked in blood
61-year-old so badly beaten she didn't even realise she was robbed
By Amanda Yong
August 06, 2009
TNP PICTURE: PHYLLICIA WANG
IF YOU meet this frail grandma, see the fear in her swollen eyes and feel her pain, you are bound to react with disgust and dismay.
And your question would be similar to hers: Why did a robber have to do this to her?
'Rob me, never mind, take my necklace, never mind,' she said. 'Why did he have to hit me?'
He got away with just under $300 in cash, a handphone worth $70, and a gold necklace worth about $500.
But why did he have to resort to such a horrific beating?
Perhaps he wanted to blind her. Why else would he concentrate on bashing her eyes?
'My family and friends think that the robber must have punched my eyes so I wouldn't be able to identify him,' said the coffee shop assistant, who wanted to be known only as Madam Tan.
She is 61, frail and defenceless. Yet she was robbed and viciously beaten at Surin Avenue, off Upper Serangoon Road, last Wednesday.
The blood streaming from her battered face clouded her view of her attacker.
All she saw through the crimson fog was the back of a man in a navy blue top fleeing the scene.
Madam Tan told The New Paper in Mandarin: 'It happened so fast that I didn't get to see what the man looked like.
'Fortunately, he didn't snatch my gold bangle (worth a few hundred dollars), which I was wearing on my left arm.'
The attack happened on a dimly-lit street around 6am, when it was still quite dark.
Every morning, around that time, Madam Tan would take a bus from her home in Hougang to Upper Serangoon to feed stray cats. She had been doing that for two years.
'He must have known my daily routine, and that I take that route every day,' she said.
Having fed the cats, she would take a five-minute walk to the coffee shop where she works.
Madam Tan has worked at the coffee shop for 12 years. 'I've worked for so many years, and never had anything like this happen to me, until now,' she said.
'He came at me from behind and started hitting me, first on the back of my head, and then my face.'
The blows were so hard, so fast and so relentless that she did not even have time to react - or even scream.
Even when she buckled under the blows and fell face down, the man continued raining blows on her.
Madam Tan said she was so dazed she did not know what was happening to her.
'I just kept asking myself, 'Why am I like this? Why am I on the ground? Why am I in this state? Why can't I get up?' she recalled.
It was only when she finally managed to haul her injured body up that she realised she was the victim of a violent assault.
Handbag stolen
When she found her bag missing, she realised she had also been robbed. All that was left of her handbag was a torn flap on the pavement.
Madam Tan then staggered to a 24-hour Indian-Muslim coffee shop nearby.
A few customers and coffee shop workers who were there rushed to her aid, alerted the police and called for an ambulance.
Madam Tan was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where she was admitted for a night for observation.
An X-ray showed she suffered hairline fractures around her right eye.
'I was bleeding all the way (from the spot where she was attacked) to the coffee shop,' she said.
'All my clothes, including my undergarments, were completely soaked in blood.'
When The New Paper team visited Madam Tan at her daughter's flat on Monday, she was still in a pitiable state.
The swelling on her eyes and her forehead - which lasted for the first two days after the attack - had subsided. But the bruises on both eyes, and a large bruise on her left knee, were still obvious.
There was also a deep hole under her right eye. That was the wound which spewed the blood that drenched her clothes.
She had plasters on her right elbow and two fingers on her left hand, where she suffered further lacerations from the impact of hitting the ground.
Pointing to her upper torso, she added: 'My chest also hurts whenever I sneeze.'
After Madam Tan removed the plaster from her elbow to show us her wound, her 7-year-old grandson slowly and gently pressed a fresh plaster onto the injury.
She said: 'The day after the incident, my grandson came to me and said, 'Ah ma (Hokkien for grandma), since you were robbed, I'll give you my 30 cents (from his pocket money).'
Why was she carrying so much money?
'I was planning to pay my handphone bill and my son's utilities bills that day and do some shopping at Hougang Mall.
'So suay (Hokkien for unlucky),' she said.
As her forehead creased with worry, she added: 'Now, I'm also afraid that the robber knows how much money I have in my bank account and where I live.'
Her bag had contained her personal documents, including her bank book. 'I hope the police find him and arrest him soon.'
When contacted, a police spokesman said investigations are on. No one has been arrested so far. Anyone with information can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000.
MORE ELDERS HIT
249
Number of crime cases involving the elderly in 2008. In 2007, the number was 242. In 2006, it was 170.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIOLENT CRIMES
1. 13 JUL 2008
A 71-year-old woman was killed after a snatch theft.
Pushed to the ground, she hit her head on a curb, lapsed into a coma and died three weeks later.
The robber snatched a gold necklace and pendant that cost between $2,000 and $3,000.
2. 8 JUL 2008
An 80-year-old woman was beaten and robbed by a man in a lift at Block 619, Choa Chu Kang North 7.
She was robbed of her handbag and jewellery and also suffered a fractured left arm.
BEATEN, BEWILDERED, ALMOST BLINDED
Brutal attack on grandma leaves her soaked in blood
61-year-old so badly beaten she didn't even realise she was robbed
By Amanda Yong
August 06, 2009
TNP PICTURE: PHYLLICIA WANG
IF YOU meet this frail grandma, see the fear in her swollen eyes and feel her pain, you are bound to react with disgust and dismay.
And your question would be similar to hers: Why did a robber have to do this to her?
'Rob me, never mind, take my necklace, never mind,' she said. 'Why did he have to hit me?'
He got away with just under $300 in cash, a handphone worth $70, and a gold necklace worth about $500.
But why did he have to resort to such a horrific beating?
Perhaps he wanted to blind her. Why else would he concentrate on bashing her eyes?
'My family and friends think that the robber must have punched my eyes so I wouldn't be able to identify him,' said the coffee shop assistant, who wanted to be known only as Madam Tan.
She is 61, frail and defenceless. Yet she was robbed and viciously beaten at Surin Avenue, off Upper Serangoon Road, last Wednesday.
The blood streaming from her battered face clouded her view of her attacker.
All she saw through the crimson fog was the back of a man in a navy blue top fleeing the scene.
Madam Tan told The New Paper in Mandarin: 'It happened so fast that I didn't get to see what the man looked like.
'Fortunately, he didn't snatch my gold bangle (worth a few hundred dollars), which I was wearing on my left arm.'
The attack happened on a dimly-lit street around 6am, when it was still quite dark.
Every morning, around that time, Madam Tan would take a bus from her home in Hougang to Upper Serangoon to feed stray cats. She had been doing that for two years.
'He must have known my daily routine, and that I take that route every day,' she said.
Having fed the cats, she would take a five-minute walk to the coffee shop where she works.
Madam Tan has worked at the coffee shop for 12 years. 'I've worked for so many years, and never had anything like this happen to me, until now,' she said.
'He came at me from behind and started hitting me, first on the back of my head, and then my face.'
The blows were so hard, so fast and so relentless that she did not even have time to react - or even scream.
Even when she buckled under the blows and fell face down, the man continued raining blows on her.
Madam Tan said she was so dazed she did not know what was happening to her.
'I just kept asking myself, 'Why am I like this? Why am I on the ground? Why am I in this state? Why can't I get up?' she recalled.
It was only when she finally managed to haul her injured body up that she realised she was the victim of a violent assault.
Handbag stolen
When she found her bag missing, she realised she had also been robbed. All that was left of her handbag was a torn flap on the pavement.
Madam Tan then staggered to a 24-hour Indian-Muslim coffee shop nearby.
A few customers and coffee shop workers who were there rushed to her aid, alerted the police and called for an ambulance.
Madam Tan was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where she was admitted for a night for observation.
An X-ray showed she suffered hairline fractures around her right eye.
'I was bleeding all the way (from the spot where she was attacked) to the coffee shop,' she said.
'All my clothes, including my undergarments, were completely soaked in blood.'
When The New Paper team visited Madam Tan at her daughter's flat on Monday, she was still in a pitiable state.
The swelling on her eyes and her forehead - which lasted for the first two days after the attack - had subsided. But the bruises on both eyes, and a large bruise on her left knee, were still obvious.
There was also a deep hole under her right eye. That was the wound which spewed the blood that drenched her clothes.
She had plasters on her right elbow and two fingers on her left hand, where she suffered further lacerations from the impact of hitting the ground.
Pointing to her upper torso, she added: 'My chest also hurts whenever I sneeze.'
After Madam Tan removed the plaster from her elbow to show us her wound, her 7-year-old grandson slowly and gently pressed a fresh plaster onto the injury.
She said: 'The day after the incident, my grandson came to me and said, 'Ah ma (Hokkien for grandma), since you were robbed, I'll give you my 30 cents (from his pocket money).'
Why was she carrying so much money?
'I was planning to pay my handphone bill and my son's utilities bills that day and do some shopping at Hougang Mall.
'So suay (Hokkien for unlucky),' she said.
As her forehead creased with worry, she added: 'Now, I'm also afraid that the robber knows how much money I have in my bank account and where I live.'
Her bag had contained her personal documents, including her bank book. 'I hope the police find him and arrest him soon.'
When contacted, a police spokesman said investigations are on. No one has been arrested so far. Anyone with information can call the police hotline at 1800-255-0000.
MORE ELDERS HIT
249
Number of crime cases involving the elderly in 2008. In 2007, the number was 242. In 2006, it was 170.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIOLENT CRIMES
1. 13 JUL 2008
A 71-year-old woman was killed after a snatch theft.
Pushed to the ground, she hit her head on a curb, lapsed into a coma and died three weeks later.
The robber snatched a gold necklace and pendant that cost between $2,000 and $3,000.
2. 8 JUL 2008
An 80-year-old woman was beaten and robbed by a man in a lift at Block 619, Choa Chu Kang North 7.
She was robbed of her handbag and jewellery and also suffered a fractured left arm.
