By Chong Shin Yen
Wheelchair granny, 75...
- Gives grandson $2,000 and computer
- Takes him out of mental institute to house him
Favourite grandson, 27...
- Injects her with mercury while she sleeps
- Steals her $100,000 savings
SHE spent days in agony in the hospital.
Her grandson had poisoned her.
And while she was there, he started cleaning out her bank account and continued doing so even after she was discharged.
By the time she checked, her grandson had stolen over $100,000 from her account, leaving her with just $5 .
Still, her love for him has not dimmed one bit.
Madam Wang Siok Tiang, 75, who needs a wheelchair to move about because of arthritis, told The New Paper that she is willing to take her grandson back after his release from prison.
Does that mean she has forgiven him?
'He's my favourite grandson and I don't blame him despite what he did. So there's no forgiveness to speak of.'
Yesterday, Er Choon Sian, 27, who is unemployed, was jailed 2 1/2 years.
Throughout the hour-long interview, she repeatedly said: 'I really love him (Er) a lot.'
Madam Wang vomitted, had diarrhoea, suffered from hallucinations and uncontrollable shivering after she was poisoned.
She spent 10 days in hospital, the court heard.
It was not mentioned in court how much mercury was found in her.
Madam Wang, a retired florist, told The New Paper: 'My stomach often felt painful. I would vomit most of what I ate or drank. Once I vomitted through the night and couldn't sleep at all. I didn't know why I was feeling this way.'
She said the symptoms began last May.
Her eldest son took her to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where doctors found 'excessive amounts' of mercury in her left leg, the court heard.
A toxicology test confirmed it. She had to go through an operation to remove it.
The court heard that it might take up to two years before the full effects of the poisoning would be known.
ATM SHOCK
But another shock awaited her after she was discharged.
A few days later, in June, she went to an ATM to withdraw money to treat her arthritis. It was then she discovered that there was only $5 left in her account.
'All my life savings disappeared overnight,' she said in Mandarin.
'I remember asking him (Er) if he had taken my money but he denied it. I was hoping that the bank had made a mistake and that my money would be returned to me.'
Not long after she made a police report, the police showed her the CCTV footage that had been taken at an ATM.
'I recognised immediately that the man at the ATM is my grandson,' she said.
'I was too stunned to even cry. I just didn't understand why he did it.'
Especially since she had been giving him what he asked for during the past six years.
Er was diagnosed as a schizophrenic in 1998. His medical condition is characterised by paranoid beliefs and bizarre behaviour, the court heard.
His parents divorced seven years ago.
After the divorce, Er and his two younger sisters went to live with their mother. Er was supporting himself by giving tuition.
'He told me he couldn't get along with his mother and sisters. He was always quarrelling with them,' said Madam Wang, who is Er's paternal grandmother.
Madam Wang said one day, things got so bad that he fought with his sisters and Er's mum called the police.
He was then taken to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH).
Madam Wang said: 'When he was in IMH, he called me up one day and said Ah Ma, wo hen can' (Grandma, I'm very pitiful' in Mandarin).
'My heart ached and I felt so sad for him upon hearing that.'
TOOK HIM HOME
The next day, she went to IMH and took him home.
Since then, Er had been living with her and his uncle (Madam Wang's youngest son) in her three-room flat in Toa Payoh.
The youngest son, who is in his 40s, is paralysed after an illness when he was 5.
Er's father visits occasionally but father and son are not close.
Madam Wang said that when Er moved in to live with her six years ago, she even gave him $2,000 as pocket money.
She would also buy him whatever he wanted, like clothes and a computer.
Madam Wang said that Er had always been well-behaved and mild-tempered.
He seldom asked her for money, but she always gave him 'allowances' willingly.
At that time, she was running a flower stall in the market.
But she stopped working in June last year because of arthritis. She said that she had planned to rely on her savings after retirement.
In sentencing Er yesterday, District Judge Siva Shanmugam said that a doctor from IMH had certified that at the time of the offences, Er knew what he was doing and knew that what he had done was wrong.
The court heard that Er's bank account had over $112,000 when he was caught.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chew Chin Yee asked the judge to make an order for Er to forfeit the $109,100 which he had stolen from his grandmother.
The money will be returned to Madam Wang.
He felt 'persecuted' by granny
HE got the mercury from a thermometer, the court heard.
Then one night last year, Er filled a syringe with mercury, waited for Madam Wang to fall asleep and jabbed it into her left leg.
Last February, Er took $60,000 which she had kept in her flat.
He also forged her signature to apply for various debit cards under her account.
Using them, he withdrew $49,100 from Madam Wang's account at ATMs between 26 Apr and 17 Jun.
FURTHER STUDIES ABROAD
In his mitigation, Er's lawyer, Mr Sunil Sudheesan, said that he had taken her money to 'accumulate additional funds' to further his studies abroad.
Mr Sudheesan told the court that Er had felt persecuted by his grandmother and irrational thoughts of hatred developed in 2005.
He added that Er had since learnt a bitter lesson and is regretful.
He had also apologised to his grandmother.
In view of Er's condition, District Judge Siva Shanmugam said he should be admitted to the Institute of Mental Health, after serving his jail term, for further treatment.
He is to remain there until he's no longer a danger to others.
Er faced seven charges - four for theft, two for forgery and one for causing hurt by poison. Another 34 charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
