MOTHER and son have been receiving financial help from grassroots volunteers as well as members of the Serangoon North Merchants' Association for about five years.
They were also familiar faces at Meet-The-People Sessions (MPS) held weekly at Block 125 Serangoon North Avenue 1 where they would ask for different kinds of financial help.
They would arrive every few weeks, asking for money to settle outstanding utility bills, to buy food or for her son's medical expenses.
The New Paper reported that the teenager attended a special school and suffers from thalassemia, a blood disorder that renders him weak and sickly.
But after one such session on the evening of April 27, Madam Tan's 17-year-old son grabbed an aluminium chair outside the interview room and slammed it against a glass door.
He did it again, just as PAP branch secretary Mr Poon Mun Wai, 56, who had heard the first crash, was pushing open the door from the inside.
'I thought someone fell down so I walked outside to see if anyone needed help. Luckily, the door is made from tempered glass so it didn't shatter,' said Mr Poon.
He said that the force of the chair hitting the door was 'enough to kill someone'. A grassroots volunteer then grabbed the six-foot-tall teenager from behind while another took the chair away.
The teenager was later arrested and is out on police bail. He is due to appear in court on May 12. If convicted of committing a rash act, he may be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $2,500.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
