Man fined after flinging hot soup at hawker assistant over wrong order

Unhappy that a hawker assistant prepared fried bean curd instead of fried bean curd skin for him, a man flung a plastic bag containing a container of hot soup in her direction.

Kelvin Tan Chun Long, a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) regular, was fined the maximum $5,000 in court yesterday for the offence.

The 28-year-old pleaded guilty on Dec 13 last year to one charge of causing hurt by a rash act.

In response to queries from The Straits Times, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday that Tan - who holds the rank of captain - is currently suspended from duty.

It added: "The Ministry of Defence and the SAF will be reviewing his case for the purpose of discharge proceedings."

Deputy Public Prosecutor Melina Chew said in court documents that Tan went to the coffee shop in Woodlands Drive 71 and bought takeaway food from the stall at about 1pm on June 6, 2020.

About 15 minutes later, Tan returned to the stall to collect his order. The mistaken order by the hawker assistant - a 53-year-old Singaporean woman - was the result of miscommunication between the pair.

DPP Chew said: "The accused became unhappy when the victim informed the accused that she could not redo his order, as the food had already been cooked."

As he turned away, Tan pushed his order - which was in a plastic bag on the counter - and it fell to the floor. He then walked towards a nearby table where he had placed some takeaway food he had bought from other stalls.

"As he reached the table, (he) picked up and flung a blue plastic bag containing a container of hot soup (in) the direction of the victim," said DPP Chew.

The bag hit the woman, and the hot soup spilled out. She immediately felt a burning sensation on the right side of her waist. Tan promptly walked away, but several passers-by who saw the incident gave chase, and Tan returned to apologise to the hawker assistant.

A report was lodged by a police officer on patrol duty later that day.

The hawker assistant, who sought medical attention at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital on the same day, suffered a superficial partial thickness burn wound on the right side of her abdomen and was given three days of medical leave.

After seeking follow-up medical attention at a polyclinic, she was given eight more days of medical leave.

Tan could have also been jailed for up to a year for causing hurt by a rash act.