Court hands down three-week jail term for violent altercation
A retiree and his adult son have each been sentenced to three weeks in jail for assaulting a young boy following a disagreement about football at a multipurpose hall. The incident occurred on December 22, 2019, at the multipurpose hall located at Block 6, Lorong 7 Toa Payoh, where the boy, then 13 years old, was playing football with friends.
During the court proceedings on Monday (April 18), it was revealed that 62-year-old Ong Eng Seng and his son, 32-year-old Bernard Ong, both pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt with common intention. The court heard that the confrontation began when the elder Ong, after a football struck close to him, approached the young players and shouted vulgarities. This led to a heated exchange between him and the boys.
After going home to enlist his son’s help, the elder Ong returned to confront the boys. Court documents indicate that Bernard Ong pulled the 13-year-old to his feet and accused him of mocking his father. He then proceeded to choke the boy before slamming him to the ground, resulting in multiple bruises.
The Ongs’ lawyer, Mervyn Tan, argued in mitigation that the elder Ong acted out of a sense of “social consciousness” by reprimanding the boys for playing in a hall where football was prohibited. He claimed that his client felt his son was being taken advantage of by the young players.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Andre Chong contended that the actions of the father and son were “antisocial,” highlighting the nature of two grown men targeting a young boy. District Judge Ng Peng Hong agreed with this assessment, noting that they were fortunate the boy’s injuries were not more severe, or they would likely face harsher penalties.
