SINGAPORE: A 37-year-old man who grew upset after a pregnant woman asked him to stop smoking at a restaurant in Geylang in January has been issued a stern warning by the police.
Shin Min Daily News first reported on the incident earlier this week, stating that it occurred on Jan 30 when a woman asked a man seated at a table beside hers not to smoke.
The Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Regulations 2018 was extended by the National Environment Agency to cover more public places, as others are more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke. These include areas in buildings, retail food establishments, transport nodes, public service vehicles, sports and recreational facilities.
There are only specific places where smokers are allowed to light up. The NEA has also said that managers and operators are required to stop any person from smoking in prohibited places or to ask them to leave the premises, and members of the public have been encouraged to “play an active role” by reminding people not to smoke where it’s prohibited.
However, not only did the man at the Geylang eatery refuse to cooperate — he is said to have come close to the woman and smoked his cigarette right beside her. He also questioned her, but she remained quiet, because her husband was not at the table with her at the time.
Her silence angered the man further, and he threw porridge and alcohol at her. This led to the woman and her husband calling the police, who arrived shortly and arrested the man.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the woman wrote about the incident on Xiaohongshu, China’s version of Instagram. She wrote that the smoke coming from the man’s cigarette made her feel unwell, and she decided to ask him to stop smoking.
She did not want to tell him that she was pregnant, as she is still in the early stages. Fortunately, she was not burned by the hot porridge thrown at her, though she was badly affected by the incident, continuing to feel unwell one week after it occurred.
Additionally, the woman said that she had been touched inappropriately by the man, and the eatery’s owner said that the man had bumped into the woman while passing by her. The owner advised the woman to call the police, who were later shown footage of the incident from CCTV cameras.
The police confirmed they were alerted to the incident shortly past 9 pm on Jan 30, reported Mothership. It quoted the police as saying, “Upon completion of investigations and after careful consideration of the facts, the police, in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, administered a stern warning to the man for using criminal force under Section 352 of the Penal Code 1871 and intentionally causing harassment under Section 3(1)(a) of the Protection from Harassment Act 2014.” /TISG
Read also: Help! I’m pregnant but my father won’t stop smoking in the house