A Singapore man has won a court order to stop his sister from entering his room to clean, claiming her persistent nighttime visits have disrupted his privacy for years.
According to court documents released Thursday, the brother had complained that his sister would regularly enter his room between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., a habit she admitted to, Channel News Asia reported. Another sibling confirmed the behavior, describing how she would sometimes "come back in the middle of the night to clean and clean until the wee hours."
The brother said repeated invasions of his privacy left him so distressed that he was admitted to the Institute of Mental Health several times.
"It is not difficult to imagine that having someone in one's bedroom in the wee hours of the night would be disruptive and distressing," District Judge Tan Zhi Xiang noted.
The court issued a domestic exclusion order and a personal protection order (PPO) for the brother, prohibiting his sister from accessing his bedroom. The sister received a PPO against him after alleging he assaulted her when tensions escalated.
Despite knowing her brother's discomfort, the sister insisted her actions were necessary, citing concerns over hygiene. She claimed her brother's room had "a lot of pests."
"If the person does housework themselves, clean up their own room themselves, it's fine," she told the judge. "But they don't even do so at all after 40 years of age. Not even one finger ... the whole window frame can be black (in) colour."
Judge Tan Zhi Xiang dismissed her justification, noting there was no evidence of a hygiene issue severe enough to warrant her intrusions. He ruled the sister's conduct amounted to harassment, saying it was clear she had "no insight into the impact of her conduct" on her brother.
When asked if she would cease entering the room, she responded, "No, because ... this unit belongs to my dad, not him."
Originally published by Latin Times.
