SINGAPORE, Nov 25 — A 47-year-old accountant is claiming damages of about S$5 million (RM15.22 million) from the Public Utilities Board (PUB) in a civil trial that began in the High Court on Monday.

Chan Hui Peng is seeking compensatory damages, including for personal injuries as well as loss of future earnings, over her fall into a 1.8m-deep open manhole near Kovan on December 1, 2015.

In a first, she is also looking to prove that her recent diagnosis of schizophrenia arose from the accident.

The PUB has accepted 70 per cent liability for the accident but is disputing the extent of her injuries and the medical expenses to treat them, among other things.

Chan was a qualified chartered accountant at the time. She claimed that she earned S$11,500 a month while working as a senior consultant at business consulting firm HP&S International, which is run by her in-laws.

She has been on hospitalisation leave since the accident.

That day, while on the way to pick up some bird’s nest, she was walking along a pedestrian path when she fell feet-first into the manhole around the intersection of Simon Road and Upper Serangoon Road.

Three PUB officers were inspecting the manhole at the time.

Claim of no warning signs

In a court affidavit, she claimed that there were no warning signs or barricades there, and that the manhole was "enveloped in a shadow” amplified by glaring sunlight.

She added that her line of sight was blocked and she could not get around the PUB officers, who she said did not warn her about the open manhole.

She suffered an ankle fracture and several contusions and abrasions.Earlier this year, she was forcibly admitted to the Institute of Mental Health, where she was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, a major psychotic illness where patients have symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, thought disorder and abnormal behaviour.

Chan claimed to believe that her husband was an evil spirit. She had also pushed a bamboo pole out the window, and reportedly prayed and screamed in the shower, among other incidents.

Through her lawyers, Letchamanan Devadason and Ivan Lee from Legalstandard LLP, she is seeking damages for: