Singapore—A nurse who threatened a Family Court and who used vulgarities was given a three weeks in jail after she pleaded guilty to using threatening communications towards a public servant under the Protection from Harassment Act charge on Friday (Dec 27).
Zhang Honghong, who is a Chinese national and a permanent resident in Singapore, was in the midst of divorce proceedings in December 2017, when she threatened to “smash” the court as well as hit the judge on her case.
The 37-year-old Ms Zhang, who also goes by the name Lisa Chang, felt that she was not being given enough help by the Family Court. The threats she made were included in a summons application she filed, along with an attached affidavit.
For these threats, Ms Zhang was given a conditional stern warning in May 2018. The warning said that she must not commit any criminal offence for a period of one year.
However, Ms Zhang filed another affidavit in November 2018 wherein she alleged that the judge “very good in acting dumb” and that “Seeing the family court judge and the defendant act in cahoots… really disgusts me.”
Straitstimes.com reports David Koh, the Deputy Public Prosecutor on the case, as saying that at the time of Ms Zhang’s initial threats she was in the process of divorcing from her Singaporean husband, Lim Teck Leng, with whom she has two children. Mr Lim is also facing a charge of harassment with the judge who handled their case at the beginning.
District Judge Jinny Tan took over the case and presided over the ancillary hearing, and on August 25, 2017, ruled on the case in the matter of division of matrimonial assets and maintenance as well as others.
Ms Zhang later filed four applications, which largely had to do with requests for changes in the orders of Judge Tan.
On December 11 the judge conducted a case conference. According to DPP Koh, “At the time, the accused was frustrated with her ex-husband for not paying maintenance, and felt angry as she felt the Family Courts were not helping her enough.”
It was in a summons application that Ms Zhang filed electronically on December 15 that she threatened to “smash” the court and hit the judge should the case not find resolution that month, using vulgarities in the application as well.
She wrote, “the final judgment is already more than one year application period (sic),” adding that her former husband had not paid for their children’s school fees.
Ms Zhang added “For my divorce case, if the family court and (the victim) do not resolve for me in the 22 December 9.30am hearing, I will smash the family court and hit (the victim). B****, doing these bad things under the pretext of doing good things!
If anybody in the family court dares to touch me, I will die in the family court”.
She said that she had informed the Chinese embassy to “help retrieve my dead body” and that “we will settle all new and old scores together”.
Ms Zhang also added, “I am not joking, I am very serious and informing everybody in the form of summon!”
For this action, she was given the conditional stern warning, with the caveat not to reoffend. -/TISG