4.5 years’ jail for man who broke into love interest’s flat and abducted her, broke her neck bone

• Shao Changdong, 27, broke into the home of an ex-roommate with whom he was infatuated
• He hid in her bedroom and threatened her with a knife
• He also forced her to take sleeping pills and grabbed her neck so hard, a bone fractured
• He later dragged her out and tried to take her to his home
• A taxi driver saw them struggling outside and called the police

SINGAPORE — When the woman Shao Changdong had a crush on told him she was not free to see him because she was out with friends, he assumed that she was meeting other men, got jealous and broke into her home to lie in wait for her return.

He was armed with a knife, two sleeping pills and a liquid mixture to incapacitate her.

When she returned, he grabbed her neck so hard that he fractured a bone.

Shao, a 27-year-old China national, was jailed for four-and-a-half years on Thursday (Aug 26) for his actions, which took place in September last year. He has been remanded since then.

The former advertisement board maker pleaded guilty to one charge each of abduction, causing grievous hurt, criminal intimidation and housebreaking with preparation to wrongfully restrain the victim. 

Two other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that in 2016, he and the victim, a 28-year-old Singaporean, had rented bedrooms in the same unit in Bedok.

She moved out in July 2019 and rented another room in Telok Blangah. 

He told her in the middle of last year that he liked her but she rejected him. They continued keeping in touch anyway because he owed her money and she wanted to get it back.

WAITED TO AMBUSH HER

On the evening of Sept 5 last year, Shao asked the victim over messaging platform WeChat if he could send some fruits to her.

When she said that she would be out drinking till late in the Orchard Road area with some friends, he felt unhappy and envious because he thought that these friends included other men.

He packed a foldable knife, sleeping pills, a piece of white cloth and a bottle of clear liquid containing a mixture of water and a cleaning agent and then headed to her rented unit.

Shao, who had sent her back to the Telok Blangah home before, knew that she left a key to the unit at her room window.

He used this key to enter her home, then forced her locked bedroom door open and waited for her. 

He continued sending her text messages to ask when she would be done with drinks. She replied at 3.30am that she was just done and they should meet another day.

When she returned and entered her bedroom, he grabbed her neck so forcefully that she could not breathe and stopped screaming. He locked the room door and placed the cloth over her nose and mouth for a few seconds while she struggled.

He then told her: “If you don’t want to get injured, don’t talk.” 

She gestured her acceptance and he loosened his grip, before showing her the pills in a bag. She pretended to comply with his demand to swallow the pills but did not consume them.

He then held the knife against her neck, saying in Mandarin: “If you do not want to see blood, just listen to what I say.”

He eventually dragged her out of her home, telling her they would take a taxi to his house. However, he then said that he wanted to buy cigarettes from a nearby convenience store at Block 109 Bukit Purmei Road.

She did not call out for help because he told her that he would retrieve the knife again if she screamed.

While in the convenience store, she tried to hold onto a display shelf in a bid to escape. He pulled her out of the store and dragged her to a field.

A taxi driver saw the commotion and called the police. After police officers approached the pair, Shao put the victim in a chokehold, but let go when the officers told him to do so.

The victim was taken to Singapore General Hospital and given 20 days of medical leave. She had suffered superficial abrasions and a hyoid bone fracture from being grabbed by the neck at her home.

SIGNIFICANT PREMEDITATION

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kathy Chu asked for four to six years’ jail for Shao, noting that he had shown “significant premeditation and planning”.

Shao, who did not have a lawyer, said in mitigation that he went to the victim’s home just to chat but that they had ended up arguing. He also alleged that the pills were for his own insomnia and just happened to be on him.

After District Judge Eugene Teo sentenced him, Shao said that he felt the punishment was too heavy. The judge told him he could appeal against it.

The offences of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and breaking into a home to wrongfully restrain the victim, attract a maximum jail term of 10 years. Offenders can also be fined or caned.

For abduction, Shao could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, caned, or receive any combination of the three.