Singapore – A young man almost beat up a frail old man when he took off his shirt at the Pasir Ris Elias Community Club.
A video of the incident was posted on the SgfollowsAll Instagram account on Tuesday (May 4)
The young guy lost his cool because the apparently mute old man removed his shirt and shoes in front of his girlfriend.
He even reported the shirtless elderly man to the police. However, the police were patient with the old man, according to the video. It narrated the incident in subtitles.
The young man’s girlfriend tried to “control him” when he “wanted to whack” the old man, said the subtitles.
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The video was taken by a bystander who didn’t appear in the video but said in the subtitles: “I went up to the elderly man as he seems frightened…
“I tried asking him if he needed any help but I think he can’t talk…”
Others at the CC seemed to know him.
The bystander who made the video added: “I’m sharing this because if you happened to be at Elias CC and see this man, please buy him food and McDonald’s ice cream because he loves it.”
Elderly abuse seems to be increasing.
A viewer, calling herself blythekar on Instagram, shared a similar experience.
“I once stopped a young guy from bashing up an old man too and I found out that the old man peed at his bubble tea shop, I can understand that the old man did is wrong but it is wrong to use violence,” she added.
She agreed that the police should be allowed to handle the situation and there should be no violence against weak old people.
“Most of the times, they don’t even know what they are doing because they could be senile or having dementia, everyone will get old one day and also happen to be like them,” the Instagram user said.
The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) revealed that incidents of elderly abuse nearly doubled between 2016 and 2019. The figure went up from 55 in 2016 to 77 in 2017 and 126 in 2019.
MSF noted that the abusers could be their caregivers as well as their children
The ministry advised victims to seek help via their new 24-hour domestic violence helpline (1800 777 0000).
Phuong Le Ha is an intern at The Independent SG/TISG