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Karaoke bar owner and husband allegedly attacked by two men at Cuppage Plaza

SINGAPORE - After bidding goodbye to her employees, the owner of a karaoke bar and her husband were about to head home when the night took a sudden turn.

As the couple were about to enter a lift on the fourth floor of Cuppage Plaza, they bumped into a group who were coming out at the same time.

Ms Ng Siew Ching alleged that the two men and two women were visibly intoxicated.

Ms Ng told The Straits Times on March 26 that one of the men went up to her husband and tried to whisper in his ear but was told to leave them alone.

The man got angry, taunted her husband and pushed him, said Ms Ng, who then tried to separate the two men but was allegedly punched instead.

Ms Ng claimed she recognised the two assailants as an employees of a shop in Cuppage Plaza.

The police said they were alerted to the fight at 5 Koek Road at about 3am on March 25. A 33-year-old man and 28-year-old woman were taken to hospital.

A Chinese national, 41, was arrested for public nuisance and is assisting the police with investigations for voluntarily causing hurt. He was also taken to hospital, the police said.

“A man in a black shirt pulled my hair and beat me while the other man attacked my husband. He pulled me by my hair to a stairway next to my bar and slammed my face on the ground,” Ms Ng alleged.

The commotion caught the attention of her employees who ran out to help stop the fight, she added.

“An employee had to prise the man’s hand open because he was pulling my hair and I couldn’t move,” said Ms Ng, who alleged that the man also assaulted her employees.

She said the incident lasted at least five minutes before the alleged assailants’ bosses stopped the fight.

“We went back to my bar after they were pulled away, but they continued to shout and taunt us. That was when I decided to call the police,” Ms Ng said.

She said she has requested CCTV footage of the incident but has yet to hear from the building’s management.

Ms Ng said she was hospitalised for one night at Tan Tock Seng Hospital as she needed to have a CT scan and X-ray. She also had bruises on her face and legs, and she lost a chunk of her hair.

Her husband had bruises on his arm and was breathless after the incident, but he did not need to be hospitalised, she said.

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