SMASH!
Marriage broken
SMASH!
Chair thrown
SMASH!
Cars rammed
Husband goes on rampage at estranged wife's
workplace
VIOLENT: CCTV footage from
the workshop showing the husband throwing the chair onto the
ground.
DRIVING ANGRY: The driver of
the black Peugeot (in background) drove his car into three other
cars outside the motor workshop.
PICTURES: SHIN MIN DAILY NEWS
Report: VALERIE KOH
AFTER eight years of marriage, she handed her husband the
divorce papers last October.
The break-ups was anything but amicable, and on May 7, it
took a nasty, violent turn.
The husband, Calvin, 37 drove to his wife's motor
workshop in Sin Ming in a rage.
He stormed into the workshop, grabbed a chair and hurled
it onto the floor.
Said his wife, Mindy, also 37: "He was shouting, 'If you
want to play, I'll play with you'."
The New Paper is not using the couple's real names as
they have yet to finalise their divorce.
When an employee, Mr Melvin Foo, 25 approached him,
Calvin walked out of the workshop.
Once outside, he entered his black Peugeot.
But instead of driving off, he rammed his car into three
second-hand cars - a BMW, a Mazda and a Volkswagen - parked outside
waiting to be sold.
The incident was captured on closed-circuit TV.
Mr Foo said that after the rampage, Calvin came out of
his car and confronted him.
"He challenged me to a fight and provoked me. We
quarrelled for five to 10 minutes," he said.
During the commotion, Mindy remained in her office and
called her father-in-law and brother-in-law.
"I wanted his family to see for themselves what he was
like," she told TNP yesterday.
Mindy said Calvin remained agitated throughout the
incident and hurled insults at her.
When police officers arrived and took Calvin's statement,
he broke down in tears, Mr Foo recounted.
Mindy said that it has not been easy dealing with the
aftermath of the incident.
"I was fine on the first two days, but on the third day,
I broke down," she said.
"I don't understand how he could do such a thing to me.
We've been together for so long"
She said it cost her $50,000 to repair the damaged
cars.
She believes her husband's rage was sparked by her
decision to stop paying for the instalments on the purchase of his
car, which was bought in the company's name.
The couple used to run the company together before their
break-up.
Text message
Mindy said Calvin had shown up at the workshop soon after
he sent her a text message to ask why she had defaulted on the
payment for his car.
She told TNP that since he had left the company, she felt
there was no need to continue paying for the car on his behalf.
TNP could not get Calvin's reason for the rampage as he
spoke only briefty over the phone yesterday evening before saying
he had to visit his sick mother in hospital.
Mindy said she started the business in 2002, a year after
she and Calvin started dating.
The company was initially registered under his cousin's
name, but after the couple got married in 2004, the ownership was
transferred solely to her husband while she continued working
there.
After their split last year, she moved out of their
maisonette in Balestier to her friend's home in Punggol. She also
left the company.
"I offered to stay and help, but he told me to go," she
said.
But months later, Calvin changed his mind and pleaded for
her to return, she claimed.
She said she agreed to do so to protect the company's
reputation.
During TNP's brief interview with Calvin, he gave a
different account.
He said Mindy had asked to return and that he agreed only
after she contacted frequently over the matter.
"I transferred the company to her out of goodwill in
February this year," he said.
When probed further, he claimed to have done so to allow
for a clean split.
Mindy also claimed thatv Calvin had cheated on her with
another woman.
When asked about the matter, Calvin admitted to
committing adultery, but said he had done so to facilitate their
divorce.
Divorce proceedings are long drawn-out affairs, he said,
so he cheated on his wife to end things cleanly and quickly.
Mindy said she hired a private investigator (PI) to keep
tabs on her husband after they separated.
Her two handphones are full of photographs of the alleged
mistress, whom she claims is from China, and Calvin togther.
They were taken by the PI, she said, as she showed TNP
the images.
Calvin started going to China for holidays with his
friends in 2009, but she never suspected anything amiss.
"I would even tell him jokingly not to have flings." she
said.
Mindy also showed TNP scores of text messages from
him.
In some messages, Calvin would ask for favours. Other
messages were spiteful, containing insults and vulgarities.
She said he would send her multiple messages every day
since their break-up.
Two days ago, her Facebook account was hacked by someone
who posted a message claiming that her company was going bankrupt
and cease operating next month.
She said she suspected that Calvin was behind this,
claimng that he had previously sent text messages to their
customers, informing them of the impending closure.
This could not be verified with Calvin, but he also made
several accusations about Mindy.
Among them: She has been harassing him at their Balestier
home, ringing the doorbell late at night, shouting at him and
frightening him and his mother.
Mindy, in turn, alleged that when she returned home to
collect her belongings, the locks had been changed, barring her
from entry.
The couple will meet in court next week as their divorce
proceedings continue.
News ,The New Paper, Friday, June 15 2012, Pg
2-3
