THE two-year feud featuring daily shouting matches between facing neighbours in Bukit Purmei hit a new low on Thursday night - with a 74-year-old woman being sent to hospital in an ambulance.

Her 50-year-old male neighbour, Mr Philip Chia, allegedly hit her head with a metal vacuum cleaner pipe.

Madam Ng Sok Chin showed The New Paper a dent on her head - which can barely be seen but can be clearly felt - and a bump on her arm.

She claimed these were caused by the attack.

She and her husband, Mr Teo Hong Seng, 79, lodged a police report after she was given mild painkillers and discharged from Singapore General Hospital the same night.

DENIAL

But their neighbours, Mr Chia and wife Josephine Lee, 40, vehemently denied the allegations.

They also said that it was the old woman who tried to attack them.

The 'vacuum cleaner incident' is the latest in the long-standing feud between the two families at Block 108, Bukit Purmei Road.

Another neighbour, who lives on a higher floor, said: 'I heard the fight (from my house). It was very loud.

'They were shouting, 'Come on, come on'. When the shouting was at its loudest, I went to take a look.'

The neighbour declined to give her name as she didn't want to be dragged into the dispute.

When asked about the incident, the two sides blamed each other.

The Teos claimed that Mr Chia had been vacuuming the area in front of his door when he used the vacuum cleaner to blow dust on their door.

Mr Teo went out and told Mr Chia to stop, but Mr Chia allegedly used the cleaner to blow dust on his face.

Madam Ng then rushed out with a rubber foam tube to try and push the vacuum cleaner hose aside.

She claimed that that was when Mr Chia used the metal hose to hit her head.

She said in Hokkien: 'It was very painful. He hit very hard. I was giddy and felt like vomiting.'

She claimed Mr Chia then tried to hit her head again with the hose, but she raised her arm to block the blow.

She alleged that she was in so much pain that she had to sit on the ground. That was when Mr Teo and Mr Chia shouted at each other.

Madam Ng eventually got up and called the police and her daughter, who then called several relatives.

Madam Ng's grandson, who was first at the scene, said: 'I asked (Mr Chia) why he hit an old person and bullied her, but he just laughed, like it was nothing.

Her god-grandson said: 'We helped her inside, but she felt giddy, so we called for an ambulance.'

Madam Ng's relatives refused to be identified, saying that the Chias are trying to gather information on them.

Mr Chia countered that it was the older couple who started hurling vulgarities at them. He claimed that they have been cursing the family to die a terrible death.

Later, while Mr Chia was using a vacuum cleaner outside his door, he claimed that Madam Ng tried to assault him.

ASSAULT COUNTER-CLAIM

He said: 'The old woman took this long thing covered in newspaper, maybe a rod. She scolded me and rushed at me. My wife pulled me in.'

Mr Chia said he did not know how Madam Ng got the dent on her head or the bump on her arm.

He said: 'You ask her. What she wants to say, let her say.

'This time there are no witnesses. I've got nothing to say.'

But he agreed to show us his vacuum cleaner. Brandishing the clean metal hose, he said: 'You see, got blood or not?'

When we first arrived at the scene, five of the Teos' relatives were inside their unit, while Mr Chia was sitting in his own unit, with a video camera trained towards the corridor that runs along both their facing units.

Mr Teo's grandson said: 'You see, everytime we relatives come to visit, they would turn on the video camera, like they're trying to scare us.'

A police spokesman confirmed they had received a call at 9.10pm that night about a dispute at the block.

She said: 'Both parties managed to be calmed down and advised not to breach the peace. One of the parties sustained minor injuries and was conveyed to SGH.

'Investigations are ongoing.'