For the past five years, an 82-year-old widower in Geylang has had to bear with loud banging on his wall by his next-door neighbour.
And the banging has got so bad in recent months that other neighbours started complaining about the noise, with one claiming that the culprit - a woman - hits the wall so hard that it "vibrates".
Her "wall rage" seems to have been sparked by her objection to the widower, Mr Lam Kok Chiang, hanging his clothes in the common corridor.
The banging became such a nightmare that Mr Lam said he has spent a few thousand dollars to install a CCTV camera outside his flat, see a psychiatrist and engage a lawyer.
He and his wife moved into the fifth-storey flat in Geylang in 2005.
The following year, his wife died, and a couple moved into the flat next door.
Mr Lam, who has three children who live elsewhere, told TNP on Thursday that the wife, who's in her 30s, had problems with him almost immediately.
"Just two days after she moved in, she was unhappy with me hanging clothes out to dry in the common corridor," he said.
"After that, she started banging on the wall we share, disturbing me. Once, she even took a photo of me with her mobile phone, causing me stress."
Mr Lam said the woman never spoke to him and that he had heard about her unhappiness with him through third parties.
He and other neighbours said that the couple now have a child who is about a year old.
This reporter approached the woman's flat three times on Thursday to get her side of the story. No one opened the door, but a light was on inside and the sound of moving feet could be heard.
On one occasion, a person knocked on the wall three times. The person then took a photo of this reporter through the window shutters.
Mr Lam claimed that he tried to resolve tensions with the woman through the town council.
This did not work, he said. So he filed a magistrate's complaint and several police reports against her.
He told TNP: "I tried to ask her to stop, but she wouldn't even answer the door .
"Now I want others to know what she's done to me so she will stop."
Last year, Mr Lam installed a CCTV camera system and microphone outside his door, which cost about $1,300.
He then paid $1,500 to hire a lawyer, who wrote a letter to the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) for him.
He also spent about $800 to consult a psychiatrist, who confirmed in a medical report that Mr Lam was suffering from mild depression as a result of "harassment by the couple staying next to his house".
Mr Lam said: "I don't know what else to do. I need evidence to prove what she's done."
He did get just that last August, when his CCTV system filmed the woman removing a Taoist altar which was riveted to the wall outside his flat.
The footage showed the woman standing outside his flat, pointing angrily at the altar. She then used tools to prise it from the wall. Holding it, she then walked towards the lift lobby.
Mr Lam showed TNP photos of the altar placed in the lift lobby next to a discarded television set.
He said the altar cost $25, and he has since bought a replacement for $36.
When this reporter asked the person in his neighbour's flat to confirm or deny this, there was no answer.
In a police report made in September, Mr Lam claimed the woman also removed the incense from his altar several times previously.
He is the only neighbour of the woman who has complained to the authorities.
He said in the report: "I did not reprimand or stop her, hoping that she would stop such action soon. Unfortunately, things have turned from bad to worse."
In another CCTV recording, dated last Sept 23, the woman was seen talking to the police and town council staff members.
In the footage, she said in Mandarin: "We cannot stand the smell of the incense. It is giving me a headache. We cannot accept it.
"Now my whole house has the smell of incense. It was he who burnt the incense. It's not just a little bit.
"It is like this every day... If my family is not sensitive to the smell of incense, we won't be finding trouble.
"He has been challenging us ever since we moved here. He keeps forcing us to call the police, giving us a bad reputation. He's asking us to move, move, move. It makes everybody in my family angry."
Daily nuisance
Mr Lam denied the woman's allegations.
He claimed that the wall banging, which used to occur once every few days, became a daily nuisance.
"She knocks on the walls several times every day now," he said.
Last September, his lawyer, Ms Gloria James-Civetta, said in a letter to the AGC: "We humbly urge your good office to consider action against the offenders as they have intentionally caused fear and harassment on an 82-year-old widower living alone."
Earlier this month, the AGC replied: "After careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the present matter... the prosecution will not be acceding to your representations."
Mr Lam told TNP: "I'm at my wit's end. I can't sleep because she keeps knocking on my wall."
Neighbours living above and below the feuding parties told TNP that they have heard loud knocking sounds coming from the woman's flat in recent months.
Housing agent T.C. Teh, who's in his 40s and lives on the fourth storey, said: "The knocking starts at 7am and recurs throughout the day.
"It sometimes wakes up my three-year-old daughter when she is taking her afternoon nap."
Housewife Norlizah Ahmad, 47 , whose flat is directly below the woman's unit, said: "My husband has gone up to confront her before, but she won't even open the door for us or even answer us."
Housewife Lee Mei, 60, who lives on the sixth storey, said: "She knocks on the walls so hard that they vibrate. This Chinese New Year, I don't want anyone to visit me because I don't want them to suffer from the incessant knocking."
Said retiree Phua Moi, in her 60s, whose flat is directly above the woman's: "I don't know why she does it. I really hope she will stop. But if she doesn't, there is really nothing we can do."
