SINGAPORE - A tree pruner was left hanging high above the ground in his crane after a home owner took the key to the vehicle and drove off with it.

Shi Ka Yee, 73 - who hit the headlines several times this year for offences involving her Ferrari - had been furious that her neighbour Mr Nasrat Muzayyin was having a raintree pruned, as it was encroaching into the driveway of his bungalow at Astrid Hill near Holland Road.

After entering his home and hurling vulgarities at him, she yelled: "You cut my tree, my tree is a living thing. I hope your kids die."

The row escalated with Shi grabbing the crane's key and driving off.

Shi was back in court on Tuesday (Aug 14) to plead guilty to two charges of wrongful confinement and a rash act endangering the personal safety of others, and another drink-driving charge from a separate incident.

Three other charges of a similar nature will be taken into consideration during sentencing.

Mr Nasrat, 58, had hired a contractor to prune the tree, and five workers arrived at his home on Feb 17, 2015.

Indian national Ankathi Thirupathi, 35, was lifted in the crane bucket so he could prune the tree with a chainsaw. Half an hour later, Shi arrived at the scene in a car and sounded her horn.

After arguing with Mr Nasrat, she went to the crane to take the key and ignored the workers' pleas to return it before driving off - leaving Mr Ankathi trapped in the bucket.

The workers informed Mr Nasrat about the incident and he confronted Shi at her home to retrieve the key but she continued to argue with him.

As she tried to drive away, Mr Nasrat attempted to block her car but she drove forward, causing him to move out of the way.

After about an hour, Mr Ankathi was freed by Singapore Civil Defence Force officers, who used a ladder to rescue him.

In a separate incident on Jan 31 last year, Shi was arrested at the Grand Hyatt hotel after she attempted to drive her car home while drunk.

Earlier this year, Shi was sentenced to four weeks' jail and disqualified from driving for six months, for assaulting a fellow motorist in 2014.

She will be appealing against the conviction and sentence.

Last month, Shi admitted to stopping her car in the middle of Orchard Road and causing a jam, after a private bus driver complained she had been driving at a "very slow speed".

Shi will be back in court on Aug 29.