03/02/10: Why didn’t you apologise?

The daughter of a woman who died after eating from a Geylang Serai Indian rojak stall was given the chance to question the stallholder at the coroner’s inquiry into the deaths yesterday.

And the questions came fast and furious.

Madam Hamidah Yatim, 40, grilled Mr Sheik Allaudin Mohideen on his food hygiene practices, and why he discarded the food when he learnt about the mass food poisoning.

She also asked why Mr Allaudin did not visit the victims’ families at the hospital and at the funerals.

The 69-year-old said he was worried about his own safety, given how relatives of some food poisoning victims confronted him at his stall.

The incident, Singapore’s worst case of mass food poisoning, took place last April. Some 152 people were taken ill, and two died after eating the tainted food.