Sometimes, if you’re lucky enough, you find yourselves living next to good neighbours who are considerate and friendly.
Unfortunately for the residents of this particular HDB block, they haven’t had such luck. Now, instead of a harmonious community, a full out war has seemingly broken out with neighbours antagonising each other on both ends.
Man Vandalises Neighbourhood with Rubbish Dug Out from Rubbish Bin
According to Shin Min Daily News, they had received reports from readers through their 24-hour hotline, notifying them of a certain incident at Block 816B of Keat Hong Link, Choa Chu Kang. These reports complained of an uncle who would litter and splash water everywhere daily, which greatly troubled the residents.
According to one resident who wished to remain anonymous, she had discovered that the uncle would go to several rubbish bins below the HDB block to dig up rubbish. He would reportedly then ride a bicycle in the early hours of the morning, littering the trash around the HDB area and the park below the HDB.
“The rubbish he collects includes bottles, cans and paper boxes. Sometimes, he would even litter durian husks, furniture, glass bottles, etc,” said the resident.
Mr Cai, a nearby resident, said that the uncle would also take water from public areas and spray the water from his window, or he would throw bags of water down the stairwell.
“The bags of water are all hanging from a tree. When it rains, the bags would accumulate water, and it is also very hard for the cleaners to clear the bags. We’ve already filed reports to the authorities and police many times, but the situation has not improved,” said Mr Cai.
“This HDB block is only five years old, but the stairwell is already covered with algae, making the stairwell both dirty and slippery. This uncle would also hang bags of water in the stairwell, and combined with the accumulation of water on the floor, we are worried that Aedes mosquitoes will breed,” said Mr Huang, a resident who has just moved in.
Uncle Suffers from a Mental Illness
However, it seems that the residents are not the only ones who have complaints.
When interviewed, the uncle’s wife said: “When we first moved in, there were neighbours who knocked on our wooden door until it broke, or splashed water at our house. There were even some neighbours who used the bicycle lock to lock our gate. When my husband’s bicycle was placed downstairs, there were also instances where people broke it or locked it.”
She also mentioned that just a few weeks prior, someone had used super glue to glue the keyholes of their wooden door and metal gate. Presently, there were still unable to lock the door, and had already informed the police.
“We don’t have any money, so we’ll wait until the case is closed before changing our locks. I am sorry for my husband’s behaviour, but it cannot be helped. I really can’t stop it, but I am also angry that our neighbours have retaliated,” added the uncle’s wife.
According to her, her husband has been suffering from a mental illness for more than a decade, and has already entered and exited the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) three times. She expressed that although she had tried her best to communicate with her husband, she was still unable to stop his behaviour.
It was also revealed that the uncle has been unemployed for over 20 years, and it was his wife who has been supporting the family and taking care of their three children over the years.
“Before, he was on medication to control his illness. However, his medication caused him to have pneumonia and a high fever the previous year, putting his life in danger. After that, he stopped his medication and accepted counselling, but it was not very effective,” said the uncle’s wife.
According to 27-year-old Shafik, who is the cleaning supervisor, the uncle’s behaviour has been going on for two to three years. The cleaners would have to clean more than 200 pieces of rubbish every morning, expressed Shafik.
Shafik said, “Other than littering rubbish around the HDB estate and grass, this uncle would also throw objects from a high place, such as egg carton trays and plastic bags. Every morning, we would always end up collecting two big bags of rubbish.”
He also added that the cleaners would clean the stairwell area every month. However, with the uncle collecting water from the water pipes during the day, and splashing water around in the afternoon and evening, the situation did not improve at all.
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Featured Image: Facebook (Shin Min Daily News 新明日报)