Stirling Road terror hit neighbour until she 'saw stars'
Man jailed for assaulting, harassing neighbours at Stirling Road block
Her home was supposed to be a sanctuary for her and her teenage sons.
Instead, for about a year, Madam Norasmah Md Ali, 42, lived in fear of her next-door neighbour.
The single mother of three boys, aged 14 to 18, told The New Paper yesterday that the neighbour, Muhammed Imran Masir, had made their lives a living hell since 2014.
The facilities administrator said he would bang and kick on her metal gate and front door almost daily for no apparent reason.
In the interview with TNP in her two-room rental flat on the third storey of Block 49, Stirling Road, she said: "Last year, while my second son, who is now 16, was downstairs, Imran suddenly came forward and choked him.
"One of my neighbours had to step in to rescue my boy.
"A few weeks later, Imran hit me on my forehead, causing me to stagger backwards. I don't know why he behaved that way. I feared for my children's safety"
Her household was not the only one terrorised by Imran.
Yesterday, the security guard, now 35, was jailed for six months and four days after admitting to assaulting and harassing another neighbour, Ms Clare Wan Hui Yan, 30, who lives directly above his flat, on March 21.
He had accused Ms Wan of making stomping noises in her fourth-storey unit.
He also faced a charge of voluntarily causing hurt to Madam Norasmah, which was taken into consideration during sentencing.
One of Ms Wan's fourth-storey neighbours whom TNP spoke to felt that Imran had just wanted to create trouble for Ms Wan.
The 26-year-old woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "I've never heard any noises coming from her flat.
"I didn't dare to come out when he attacked her. He sounded very violent, and it was very scary."
Madam Norasmah said Imran and his parents moved into their block about three years ago and largely kept to themselves.
ACCUSED OF PEEPING
A few months later, Imran accused her then-husband of peeping through the windows of his flat.
She said: "This was nonsense. My ex would never do anything like that. But soon after this, we started hearing loud noises coming from Imran's flat every night. It sounded like somebody hitting the walls with a stone pestle. We found it very difficult to sleep."
Instead of confronting Imran, her family members decided to avoid him because they did not want any trouble.
But the situation got worse after her former husband moved out in 2014.
Madam Norasmah said that besides banging on her front door, Imran also hurled expletives at her almost daily.
She said she made a few police reports against him.
She finally installed a closed-circuit television camera outside her flat later that year.
"Imran choked my son last year. A few weeks after that, I was resting at home when he suddenly kicked my front gate. I was furious and couldn't take it any more. I opened my front gate and shouted at him as he was walking away," Madam Norasmah said.
"He came back and hit me hard on my forehead with his hand. I saw stars and staggered backwards. The gate slammed into me and left a 2cm cut on my wrist. I was in a daze."
She reported the incident, which occurred at around 8pm on Oct 26 last year, to the police.
Yesterday, Imran's lawyer, Mr Mohammed Shakirin Abdul Rashid, told District Judge Luke Tan that his client's family has moved out of Block 49.
When TNP told Madam Norasmah about Imran's jail sentence, she smiled and said: "I'm relieved that he is now behind bars. I feel safer now."
TROUBLEMAKER
Other residents in the block shared her sentiment.
One of them, housewife Angelia Teo, 49, who lives directly above Ms Wan, said that with Imran gone, there is now one fewer troublemaker in the neighbourhood.
Though almost a year has passed since Imran assaulted her, Madam Norasmah said she still can't forgive him.
"I'm very protective of my kids. He attacked one of my sons. I find it very difficult to forgive someone who dared to harm my loved ones."
Imran's father was in court yesterday but declined to comment when approached.
- Additional reporting by Joseph Lee, Isabelle Liew and Kimberly Lim
Responding to queries from The New Paper, the police said in a statement today (Sept 20) that it received 14 reports against Muhammed Imran Masir. The reports were for non-arrestable offences, and were mostly intentional harassment and mischief reports. Imran failed to turn up at a mediation session scheduled in May 2015.
Later, one of Imran's victims lodged a Magistrate Complaint. Imran was arrested on March 21 this year for voluntarily causing grievous hurt.
Jailed for attacking neighbour
He marched up to the flat directly above his in a fit of rage, thinking that there were loud noises coming from it.
On March 21, at around 10pm, security guard Muhammed Imran Masir shouted at his neighbour upstairs, Ms Clare Wan Hui Yan, 30, who lives on the fourth storey of Block 49, Stirling Road.
Then he suddenly punched her in the face once, resulting in a nasal bone fracture.
A closed-circuit television camera, which had been installed outside her home, captured the attack, and the police later arrested him.
Imran, now 35, was jailed for six months and four days yesterday after pleading guilty to one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and two counts of intentional harassment.
One count of voluntarily causing hurt to another neighbour, Madam Norasmah Md Ali, 42, and a third harassment charge involving Ms Wan were taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court was told that Imran started harassing Ms Wan on June 28 last year when he heard stomping noises coming from above his flat at about 3.45am.
He went up to her flat and banged on the metal gate and main door, which caused her distress.
About eight months later, at around 10.40pm on Feb 20 this year, he went up to her flat again, kicked her metal gate and told her to stop stomping on the floor.
When she denied having done so, he hurled a Hokkien expletive at her and kicked the gate again before walking away.
For voluntarily causing grievous hurt, Imran could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined or caned.
For each count of harassment, he could have been jailed up to six months and fined up to $5,000.
SIMILAR CASES THIS YEAR
AUGUST
Casey Sabrina Ng, 43, viciously attacked her elderly neighbour at the 12th-storey lift lobby of Block 10, Chai Chee Road, on Sept 28, 2013.
Ng repeatedly assaulted housewife Toh Siew Hong, 68, for 18 minutes, leaving the older woman bruised and bloodied.
She also stamped on the grandmother's head at least 10 times.
Ng was sentenced to 5½ years' corrective training on Aug 16 this year.
APRIL
Mohamed Noor Atan, 51, was drinking beer in his flat in Block 79, Indus Road, at around midnight on Jan 21 when his neighbour, Mr Collar Benny, 50, showed up to talk to him about their past grievances regarding a woman.
After an argument, they traded punches and Mr Benny fell to the ground. While he lay motionless, Mohamed Noor stepped on his face three to four times.
Several neighbours saw Mohamed Noor taking a wooden pole from the corridor to hit Mr Benny's face and chest about five times.
He was jailed for 15 months on April 12.
JANUARY
A 54-year-old freelance artist punched his neighbour several times in the face at the void deck of Block 90, Pipit Road at about 6.45pm on Oct 10, 2014.
The attacker thought the man was staring at him but in reality, the 54-year-old victim was having problems seeing clearly without his glasses.
The attacker was sentenced to three weeks' jail on Jan 15.
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