‘Can die one’: Son says vendors blamed elderly mum after fall at Hougang market, stallholder denies accusation
A man has accused operators of a Hougang wet market stall of blaming his elderly parents after his mother fell face-first onto the ground, suffering a forehead injury.
The Stomper said his mother, who is in her 70s, tripped over a metal platform placed along a common walkway outside a fishball stall at Hougang Hainanese Village Centre on Oct 11, at around 8am.
According to the anonymous Stomper, the metal structure protruded into the shared walkway and was difficult to see because it was at a low height.
“Due to the un-demarcated obstruction sticking out into the walking path, my mum tripped and fell flat onto the hard ground,” claimed the man.
His mother fell flat on her face, sustaining swelling and a bloody cut on her forehead, as well as bleeding on her toe.
The Stomper said his father — who was with his mother at the time — took her to a clinic after the incident.
When asked how his mother was, he said: “Pain and affecting her mobility, but the doctor said (she) should be okay.”
He added that his mother was “shaken” by the fall, having never landed face-first on the ground before. However, what shocked him more was how the stall operators reportedly played the blame game, telling his mother off for not walking “properly”.
“This is the most shocking part of selfish human behaviour,” he bemoaned.
The Stomper has since reported the incident to the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the town council and filed a police report.
He hopes the relevant authorities will look into stalls placing items along common walkways to prevent similar incidents, particularly involving the elderly.
“Old people should not fall, can die one,” he said.
In addition, he had wanted to accompany her for further check-ups, but his mother said she was fine — behaviour he described as “typical” of the elderly.
“Actually I really don’t know if her ‘okay’ is really ‘okay’, but I take it as ‘okay’,” he said.
Elderly vendors need metal step to reach high shelf
When Stomp visited the market at about 9.30am on Oct 13, crowds appeared to be thinning and the floors of some parts of the market were noticeably wet.
The fishball stall in question seemed to be closed, and the metal step could not be seen. However, the stall owner, who identified himself as Mr Koh, 76, and his wife were seated beside a dried goods stall nearby.
Mr Koh told Stomp he had been operating his stall for more than 40 years and was among the original group of tenants at Hougang Hainanese Village Centre, having moved from a market in Toa Payoh in the early 1980s.
The stall operator gestured to a spot about five metres away from the stall, where two plastic chairs were placed, where he had been when the woman fell.
“We did not see the moment she fell,” he said of him and his wife, who also helps to run the fishball stall.
“There were many customers (on Sunday morning) and of course we don’t want anyone to fall,” he added, denying that he or his wife blamed the woman for tripping.
Explaining why the metal step was placed at the foot of the stall, he said: “We need the step to retrieve items (from higher shelves), because we’re short.”
Mr Koh added that town council officers had visited shortly before Stomp arrived to inform the stall operators to ensure the walkway was not obstructed.
When asked about the incident and the Stomper’s accusations, he said: “If there was an issue, we would have called the ambulance ourselves.”
During the conversation with Stomp, Mrs Koh also explained that she knew the woman had fallen down, but thought the woman was alright as she did not notice her bleeding.
Stomp has reached out to Aljunied-Hougang Town Council for comment.
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