Man, 71, loses teeth after fight with couple over baby stroller in Tampines One lift
It seems the baby may have also been wounded in the incident
A scuffle inside an elevator left an elderly man without three of his teeth.
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, the 71-year-old man’s daughter said their family had just finished dinner with a friend at Tampines One mall on July 5, when they entered the lift at the fourth floor to head down to the basement car park.
The lift then stopped at the third floor, where a young couple entered with two children and a baby in a stroller.
"The lift was very crowded as there were 10 of us inside — myself, my parents, my 17-year-old daughter and my friend, as well as the other family of five," said the woman.
She added that at one point, the stroller accidentally rolled over her father's foot, and she then told the other family not to come too close to them.
"The mother was very displeased. She said if I wasn't happy I should have taken the escalator. I then told her that she didn't own the lift."
As the two women were squabbling, the elderly man raised his hand to try and stop them. This prompted the other woman’s husband to intervene, perhaps misinterpreting the older man’s intentions, reported Shin Min.
"He punched my father in the face several times," said the elderly man's daughter.
The scuffle continued as the lift reached the ground floor.
"They sent the children out of the lift and continued beating each other until some passers-by came to separate them," said the woman, who later filed a police report over the incident.
Shin Min also spoke with the woman's friend, surnamed Yu, 35, who said the altercation lasted for about two minutes. She also had some bruises on her hands from trying to stop the fight.
Yu said her friend's father lost three teeth from the punches.
According to his daughter, the elderly man also suffers from heart disease and diabetes, and was given eight days' medical leave after the incident.
"Because of the stitches, he can't wear his dentures for two months. He can only eat porridge now, and his daily life has been affected. He feels very wronged, because he was attacked for no reason."
Yu said the police told her that the young couple's baby was scratched from the brawl, but maintains that "we didn't touch the baby at all”.
“I hope (the police) will look at the CCTV footage to see what really happened," Yu said.
When a reporter from Shin Min visited Tampines One on July 11, a shop assistant who was privy to the incident said she saw the baby bleeding from his forehead. Medics later attended to the baby, she added.
While the baby's parents were waiting for the police to arrive, she asked the baby's father what had happened.
"He said that the elderly man's family was unhappy about them entering the lift, and even said: 'So what if you have a baby?'”
According to the shop assistant, the baby's father accused the elderly man of flipping the stroller, causing the baby to get hurt.
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