Sisters fined $3,500 over fatal fight

A man who fought with his neighbours over the burning of incense and joss paper died about an hour after the fight.

The two sisters who assaulted Mr Seow Hung Lye, 52, and his wife were fined $1,000 each on Wednesday by a district court for the incident on April 13 last year.

One of the women, artist Ong Siok Bee, 37, was fined another $1,500 for hurling a flower pot at the man.

Ong and her adopted sister, Tan Phui Moi, 45, pleaded guilty in April this year.

The court heard that the neighbours had fought often over the years because Mr Seow and his 49-year-old wife burned incense and joss paper outside his terrace house in Paya Lebar Crescent.

Several police reports had also been made by the sisters, who live diagonally opposite Mr Seow's house.

The fracas on April 13 last year was sparked off when one of the sisters, Tan, went to Mr Seow's gate to take photos of him performing the Chinese custom for a police report.

Mr Seow tried to grab the camera and his wife used a broom to hit Tan.

Her sister, Ong, then joined the fight with a broom of her own and began throwing flower pots at Mr Seow.

His 19-year-old son broke up the fight by spraying insecticide at the two women.

When Mr Seow and his wife returned to their house, he began to experience chest pains before falling unconscious.

He was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and died at 5.45pm, an hour after the fight started.

The maximum penalty for committing affray, or fighting, is a $5,000 fine and a one-year jail term.

For committing a rash act that endangered someone's safety, Ong could have been fined up to $2,500, or jailed up to six months or sentenced to both.

This article was first published in The New Paper.