Singapore: Police investigate 25-year-old woman after video of her abusing mother goes viral

Police are investigating a 25-year-old woman for slapping her 58-year-old mother along the corridor outside their flat in a public housing block in Singapore.

Singapore police have confirmed that a police report was lodged on 20 July and the case has been classified as voluntarily causing hurt. Police investigations are ongoing, a joint statement from the police and Ministry of Social and Family Development said.

"The police and MSF are working closely to ensure that the victim receives the necessary care and support. To better protect vulnerable adults from abuse or neglect, we urge members of the public to alert the authorities or call the police in case of emergency," the statement added.

A Facebook video of the woman abusing her mother was taken by a neighbour, Mohammad Juani, 25 on Monday.

The video shows three woman outside a flat, with an elderly bald woman sweeping the floor. Towards the end of the video, one of the women slaps the elderly lady. When the elderly lady steadies herself, she is slapped again, this time on the other side of her face.

Juani hailed as hero

The Straits Times quoted Juani as saying that initially he did not want to interfere in what he considered a family matter but after witnessing similar slapping incidents for the past six months, he felt that he had to do something.

Juani will be moving out of his flat in two months and felt that if anything had happened to the old lady, he would regret not having done something.

Although he is being hailed as a hero in the social media world, Juani said he did what he had to do. "As a human being, I think we should all help each other because I can't bear to see the pain she suffered."

After discussing the matter with his mother and younger brother, they decided that capturing the assault on video would be the best way to provide evidence of the abuse.

In comments accompanying the uploaded video he said how the old lady changed from being cheerful to a bald and fragile woman whose face was bruised each time they saw her."

"The one who is slapping her is ... her own daughter. How could you. She's your own mum. She carried you in her womb. How could you gang up with others against your own mum?" he posted on Facebook.

When the Singapore Straits Times visited the victim's flat, the front gate was locked and no one answered the door.

A note on the door said that the occupants no longer lived in the flat as they owed people money.

Another neighbour D.V. Singh told the newspaper that the elderly lady had been taken to hospital by an ambulance on Monday night.

This was confirmed by the Singapore Civil Defence Force which said that it was alerted to the Facebook video on Monday and had sent an ambulance to take the elderly lady to hospital.