A pregnant woman was harassed by a man at a porridge restaurant in Singapore recently.
According to a report by Lianhe Zaobao, the woman and her husband had gone to the restaurant for dinner on Thursday (January 30), when the woman noticed a man smoking a cigarette at the table next to her. Considering her husband had gone to order their food, she decided to ask the man to put out his cigarette.
Unhappy at the request, the man apparently approached the woman, who was in the early stages of pregnancy and had yet to develop a baby bump, to smoke his cigarette closer to her while questioning where she was from.
The tourist throws porridge and alcohol at the woman
“My husband had gone to order food and I was alone. I was scared and didn’t want to or dare respond, so I pretended to look at my phone and ignored him,” the woman said.
Upon realising that he was being ignored, the man cursed and returned to his seat but then proceeded to throw porridge and alcohol at the woman and was eventually pulled away by his friends. He also allegedly took pictures of the woman.
Following the incident, the woman told the restaurant owner that she was molested, leading the police to be called.
“She told me that someone touched her. The other person seemed to be a tourist. I didn’t see anything and couldn’t do anything to help her, so I told her to call the police. The police came soon after, and I showed them the CCTV footage,” the shop owner shared.
Considering the CCTV footage and that smoking at restaurants is illegal in Singapore, the man was arrested at the scene for violating Section 352 of the Criminal Code for Criminal Violence and intentionally causing harassment, thereby violating the Prevention of Harassment Act 2014. However, he was later let off with a stern warning.
The woman returns to the restaurant for her unfinished food
When the incident happened, the woman and her husband left the restaurant and returned 3 hours later, unhappy that their food had been taken away.
“When she came back, she complained that there were still a few pieces of frogs that she had not finished and blamed us for taking the food away. There were so many people during Chinese New Year, and of course, we had to clean up after the customers left, because I have a business to run,”
“And, she didn’t tell us that she would come back to continue eating,” the restaurant owner explained.
Not wanting to argue with the pregnant woman, the restaurant owner decided to give her a refund of SG$12 (RM39.92) for the unfinished dish.
The pregnant woman has also shared that she has been traumatised by the event.
Fortunately, she did not suffer any burns from being splashed with porridge, though she carries emotional scars from the incident.
“The stained skirt has been washed, but I just hate wearing it now,” she said.
The restaurant owner, on the other hand, assured that her eatery is a safe place as customers only drink moderately and there were no past drunken disturbances.
“The man was a tourist. Our restaurant has been open for 6 years, and there has never been a case of drunken diners causing trouble,” she added.
What do you think about this? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
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