Childish note leads to void deck catfight - CLASSMATE vs CLASSMATE, THEN... MUM vs MUM - Boy, 10, says classmate calls him 'stupid ding dong' in note
- He says girl's mum slaps him
- He gets small cut in fight
- Girl says she only calls boy 'monkey' in note
- She says boy's mum later calls her 'crazy'
- Her mum gets 'bite mark' in fight
By Shree Ann Mathavan
June 29, 2008
IT began with name-calling between two 10-year-old primary school pupils in class, and ended in a catfight between their mothers.
-- TNP pictures: NATASHIA LEE, KUA CHEE SIONG
She then slapped him on his left cheek, he alleged.
'I felt so angry and embarrassed that I squatted down and covered my face,' he said, adding that he was in tears.
He ran home to tell his mother, who went downstairs to confront the other party.
She said: 'All I wanted to do was to ask her why she had slapped my son. I had no intention to fight her.'
She claimed the girl's mother refused to reply when confronted, but instead tried to walk past her.
'To stop her from leaving, I put my hand on her arm and she used a water bottle to hit my head,' she said.
A tussle ensued, with the two women pulling at each other's arms. She alleged that the girl's mother tried to pull up her shirt and she retaliated likewise.
The girl's mother sustained a mark on her right hand, which she claimed was a bite mark from the other woman.
The scuffle lasted about 10minutes, but the matter didn't end there.
The girl's father started shouting at the boy's father, 38, a driver, who had also rushed home.
Both alleged that the other hurled vulgarities. The boy's father then challenged his neighbour to a fight. But nothing happened as the police were at the scene.
A police spokesman confirmed the incident.
They received a call at 7.25pm informing them of 'a dispute and an ensuing scuffle between two neighbours at the void deck'.
The spokesman said: 'Police have advised them on their legal recourse.'
The girl's father has no plans to enrol his children in other schools yet.
He said his children were so traumatised that they now refuse to go downstairs.
He told The New Paper: 'Yes, education is important, but my kids' lives are also important. I can't take the risk.'
The boy's mother retorted: 'If you don't hit my child, why should I look for you? I have better things to do. It's natural for parents to want to look after their children.'
Both parties said they planned to ignore each other if they crossed paths.
Asked if she regretted how relations with the neighbour had deteriorated, the boy's mother said: 'It's one thing for kids to quarrel, but when an adult beats a child, it doesn't make any sense.'
Four months ago, a girl had scrawled a note in which she referred to her male classmate as a 'monkey'.
But the boy told The New Paper that she had called him a 'stupid ding dong' in the note.
Their families, who live in the same block in Jurong, began a feud that simmered until it blew up last Saturday when their mothers came to blows at the void deck.
The police were called in and an ambulance took the girl's mother, 38, a cleaner, to the National University Hospital where she was treated for minor injuries and given a day's medical leave.
The boy had a small cut on his left hand.
Both families have lodged police reports. The girl's father, 40, a construction worker, has also lodged a magistrate's complaint.
He has also taken the drastic measure of pulling his daughter and 5-year-old son from their respective schools this week, as he fears for their safety.
We are not naming the families to avoid further embarrassment to the children.
The boy, seen with his mother, said he was embarrassed by the slap.
After chancing on the girl's note, the boy told his mother about it and she went to school to confront thegirl.
CONFRONTATION IN SCHOOL
The mother said: 'I was angry, of course. How could she call my son that?'
The girl burst into tears and later told her parents about the confrontation. She said: '(The boy's mother) told me I'm a crazy girl and that her son is a clever boy.'
Her father initially didn't take the matter seriously.
'I thought it was just children playing at first,' he said.
But a few days later, his daughter told him the boy's mother had scolded her again at the bus stop near their block.
He also claimed that his neighbour abused him verbally at the void deck. He became angry and they started arguing.
Before the note incident, the children were on friendly terms. Although not close, they would make small talk and occasionally take the same public bus to school.
And though the families didn't know each other well, they would greet each other.
The girl (in orange, with her parents and brother) has been pulled out of school this week.
Then, as relations became strained, with harsh words exchanged on occasion, the families largely ignored each other.
But things came to a head last Saturday evening when the two mothers bumped into each other at the void deck.
The girl's mother said: 'She started to shout at me and said she wanted to beat my son and daughter.'
She alleged that the boy's mother punched her back and chest, tried to lift up her shirt and bit her right hand.
She said: 'I was scared that my children would get hurt, so I used my body and arms to block them.'
The girl made two phone calls to her father who, in turn, rang the police and rushed home.
When interviewed, the boy's mother and her son gave a different account of the incident.
Her son said he was playing catch with four friends at the playground near their block that evening.
The boy, who has had a hearing problem in his left ear since 2006, said he didn't hear the girl's mother and her daughter saying 'excuse me' while they were playing.
When he didn't move aside, he claimed the girl's mother pushed him and he almost fell.
-- TNP pictures: NATASHIA LEE, KUA CHEE SIONG
She then slapped him on his left cheek, he alleged.
'I felt so angry and embarrassed that I squatted down and covered my face,' he said, adding that he was in tears.
He ran home to tell his mother, who went downstairs to confront the other party.
She said: 'All I wanted to do was to ask her why she had slapped my son. I had no intention to fight her.'
She claimed the girl's mother refused to reply when confronted, but instead tried to walk past her.
'To stop her from leaving, I put my hand on her arm and she used a water bottle to hit my head,' she said.
A tussle ensued, with the two women pulling at each other's arms. She alleged that the girl's mother tried to pull up her shirt and she retaliated likewise.
The girl's mother sustained a mark on her right hand, which she claimed was a bite mark from the other woman.
The scuffle lasted about 10minutes, but the matter didn't end there.
The girl's father started shouting at the boy's father, 38, a driver, who had also rushed home.
Both alleged that the other hurled vulgarities. The boy's father then challenged his neighbour to a fight. But nothing happened as the police were at the scene.
A police spokesman confirmed the incident.
They received a call at 7.25pm informing them of 'a dispute and an ensuing scuffle between two neighbours at the void deck'.
The spokesman said: 'Police have advised them on their legal recourse.'
The girl's father has no plans to enrol his children in other schools yet.
He said his children were so traumatised that they now refuse to go downstairs.
He told The New Paper: 'Yes, education is important, but my kids' lives are also important. I can't take the risk.'
The boy's mother retorted: 'If you don't hit my child, why should I look for you? I have better things to do. It's natural for parents to want to look after their children.'
Both parties said they planned to ignore each other if they crossed paths.
Asked if she regretted how relations with the neighbour had deteriorated, the boy's mother said: 'It's one thing for kids to quarrel, but when an adult beats a child, it doesn't make any sense.'
This is becoming a national issue. Happens very often in lifts as well!!!