Sep 7, 2007
A grandmother's anguish
2001: Younger grandson dies in road accident
2007: The other grandson charged with arms theft
Paternal grandma also suffering from inoperable liver cancerBy David Boey & Jermyn Chow
BAD NEWS FOR FAMILY: Madam Tan, looking at a news clipping on Zong Yi and a recent report on Teo, said: 'You cannot understand how painful it is for me to lose one grandson, and now to see another grandson in the news.' -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN TWO of her grandsons have grabbed newspaper headlines - and Madam Tan Ah Hoon, 69, wishes they never did.
In March 2001, she lost her grandson Teo Zong Yi in a road accident. Then 12, the boy whom newspaper reports said had a bright future was hit by a lorry.
This week, she has had to read about another grandson, Dave Teo Ming, 20, the army corporal who has been accused of stealing a weapon.
Teo and Zong Yi were brothers, with Teo older by two years.
Speaking in Hokkien, the paternal grandmother said of the brothers she raised after their parents' divorce 11 years ago: 'You cannot understand how painful it is for me to lose one grandson, and now to see another grandson in the news.'
Recently diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer, she still keeps a file of newspaper clippings on the younger boy.
Zong Yi, who died several days after he was knocked down near the Bedok bus interchange, was described in those news clippings as a 'star pupil' with 'leadership qualities beyond his years'.
From what she and other relatives said, Teo was rather different from his brother, even at age 14. His grades were mediocre, and the disciplinary problems he gave his teachers got him expelled from school.
The Normal (Technical) stream student had a fun-filled childhood with his younger brother, but became withdrawn after Zong Yi's death.
While waiting to enlist for national service in September 2005, Teo helped out at his uncle's food stall in Bedok.
Speaking to The Straits Times, the family recalled the shock they felt when policemen showed up at their Bedok flat looking for him on Monday morning.
They agreed to speak to this newspaper in the presence of their lawyer, Mr Abdul Aziz Yatim, a 59-year-old family friend from their kampung days 30years ago.
Besides Madam Tan and her husband, three other relatives live in the five-room flat.
Try as she might on Monday, the anxious granny could not reach Teo on his cellphone.
'I really wanted to see him or at least speak to him. I was so upset that I couldn't eat or sleep... I was very worried for him and just wanted him to be safe and well.'
She said her concern for his well-being was mirrored by his looking out for her. 'He would always buy back food for me even with the little money he had.'
She added that she was both grandmother and mother to Teo and his brother since their parents split up.
Teo has no contact with his mother; his odd-job labourer father is doing time in jail.
The full-time national serviceman, with a month to go to his completing his NS training, was arrested at Orchard Cineleisure later on Monday and charged in court two days later under the Arms Offences Act.
He had gone absent without official leave from his Mandai Hill Camp, allegedly with an SAR-21 assault rifle and some live rounds.
The penalty for carrying firearms is jail of between five and 14 years, and caning.
The clan - his grandparents, uncles and cousins - showed up in court on Wednesday to see him being charged. As they left the courthouse afterwards, they got into a scuffle with press photographers.
Yesterday, the family said they were sorry for that.
Teo's cousin, Mr Edmund Tan, said: 'Please understand we've been under tremendous stress since Dave went missing and my granny isn't feeling well.'
Teo's case will go before the court next Wednesday.
His grandmother has pledged to attend every hearing - no matter how long the trial stretches.
'I don't care about the rumours or what other people say about him. But I know best what kind of person he is.'
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