The high-profile case of a tycoon's wife who was accused of slapping a Singapore Airlines stewardess on board a Tokyo-bound flight was cleared yesterday after the charge was withdrawn, The Straits Times reported.
No reason was given by the police prosecutor.
He applied for a discharge amounting to an acquittal, adding that a warning had been given to Madam Tan Siew Hoon.
The 61-year-old wife of Mr Wong Ngit Liong, 65, chairman and chief executive of contract manufacturer Venture Corporation, was hauled to court last month on a police summons charge - a week after settling a civil suit with
flight attendant Then Jiamin, 25.
Ms Then had sought unspecified damages for 'emotional and mental distress' as a result of the 'wrongful
assault and battery' and for defamation over the incident in the business class section of the flight on Sept 20 last year.
The stewardess had claimed that they were about 80 minutes from Tokyo's Narita airport and she was serving Mr Wong when Madam Tan became upset and slapped her.
She also claimed that after the alleged assault, Madam Tan asked her loudly: "Why are you talking to my husband?"
Yesterday, after she was cleared by District Judge Ong Chin Rhu, Madam Tan walked out with her husband, hand-in-hand, smiling.
She wore a pink dress with a black cardigan.
Her lawyer Mr Ravinderpal Singh told reporters that his further 'representations' had been acceded to, without elaborating.
Earlier this month, the lawyer had told the court that his representations had been turned down, and he was awaiting a reply to his further letter and legal arguments to the Attorney-General's Chambers.
Anyone convicted of voluntarily causing hurt can be jailed for up to one year and/or fined up to $1,000.
As for Ms Then, her lawyer, Mr Abraham Vergis, told The Straits Times that his client had put this entire chapter
behind her.
He added: "She is getting married soon and she is looking forward to the bliss of wedded life".
