A 62-year-old retiree and his 31-year-old son were jailed for three weeks each for beating up and choking a young boy over an argument about football being played at a multipurpose hall, a court heard on Monday (April 18).
The duo had choked the boy, who was 13 at the time, and slammed his head to the ground, causing multiple bruises throughout his body. The retiree, Ong Eng Seng, and his son both pleaded guilty on Monday to one charge each of voluntarily causing hurt with common intention.
The court heard that the incident happened on 22 Dec 2019 at the multipurpose hall at Block 6, Lorong 7 Toa Payoh, where the boy and three of his friends were playing football.
As the elder Ong was walking through the hall, the ball came close to him, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Andre Chong said. This caused Ong to confront the group of friends. He hurled various vulgarities at them which prompted the group to respond in return with vulgarities. The retiree told the group that he would be back and headed home to seek the help of his son.
Court documents said the father and son pair later returned to the hall, and saw the group sitting on the floor. Bernard Ong then pulled the 13-year-old boy to his feet and shouted at him: “Eh you made fun of my dad uh. Holding the boy by his neck, the younger Ong then “slammed” the victim to the floor, DPP Chong said.
The Ongs` lawyer Mervyn Tan told the court on Monday during mitigation that the senior Ong had rebuked the group of young boys for playing in the multipurpose hall, which was not a permitted area for football.
Mr Tan said that the elder Ong had scolded the boys out of a sense of “social consciousness”. His son also felt like the young boy had taken advantage of his elderly father. In response, DPP Chong argued instead that the duo’s acts were “antisocial”, given that it involved “two grown men ganging up” on a young boy.
District Judge Ng Peng Hong agreed with the DPP and told the Ongs that they should feel fortunate that the injuries were minor, otherwise they would probably be facing more jail time.
