By Shaffiq Alkhatib | Posted: 13 April 2011 1233 hrs
SINGAPORE: A freelance interior designer was fined
S$4,000 on Wednesday for sending insulting and threatening messages
to a Straits Times journalist.
34-year-old Amy Chua Kwan Ming harassed Joanne Lee eight times
between August 2008 and September 2009.
The pair met each other face-to-face only once sometime in 2003 or
2004 when Chua asked for Ms Lee's autograph at a taxi stand and the
journalist obliged. But Ms Lee started receiving letters and emails
from Chua a few years later, some of which were peppered with
obscenities.
The plump, bespectacled woman claimed that she was Ms Lee's husband
and they supposedly had a child together. Chua also sent about
three emails to her every day and had presents sent over to Ms
Lee's work place.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Sanjiv Vaswani told the court that Chua
declared her love to Ms Lee in some of the messages. And in several
others, Chua accused 36-year-old Ms Lee of having supposed affairs
with various individuals, said DPP Vaswani.
Chua also left more than 80 messages in Ms Lee's office voice mail
since August 2009 and had asked Ms Lee's colleagues to disclose the
journalist's daily work schedule to her.
The court heard that Chua has been diagnosed with schizophrenia but
she was of sound mind when she committed the offence.
She told District Judge Roy Neighbour that she is receiving
outpatient treatment at the Institute of Mental Health for her
condition.
Chua, who pleaded guilty to four of eight charges last month, could
have been fined up to S$5,000 for each charge.
-CNA
