SINGAPORE — Enraged that his wife had been unfaithful and having a similar suspicion of his girlfriend after that, a man choked the two women and spat at a police officer who came to arrest him on one occasion. 

The 26-year-old man pleaded guilty on Monday (Feb 5) to five charges: Two of voluntarily causing hurt, one of threatening to distribute an intimate image, one of violating a protection order and another of using criminal force to deter a public servant on duty. 

He was given a jail sentence of 50 weeks, which is almost a year. Eight other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing. 

The man and the victims cannot be named due to a court order protecting the victims' identities.

FIRST VICTIM

From December 2019, the man’s wife was under a personal protection order against him due to previous incidents of family violence. 

The man moved out of their marital home in November the next year, while the wife and their children continued to live there. 

On Jan 28 in 2021, he went back to their home wanting to visit his children, but they happened to not be there. 

Thinking that his wife had intentionally kept their children from him, he started to dispose of her belongings and sent her a photograph of him doing so. 

When she returned home, the man choked her by the neck before pushing her to the wall and ground.

In a later incident on July 8, 2021, he went to drink alcohol with his friends and later saw his wife speaking with a neighbour along the corridor when he returned to their flat.

Going against the protection order, he confronted her on why she was talking to the neighbour and grabbed her neck several times, causing her head to hit the wall until she bled.

In response to a neighbour’s call, police officers arrived at the couple's home and noticed that the victim was in a bloodstained shirt, bleeding from her head.

The police entered the house to arrest the man, who shouted vulgarities and swung his arms at the officers, before being brought down to the floor and handcuffed. 

The man continued to violently struggle as he was taken out of the apartment and he spat at a police sergeant. 

In March 2022, the man had another confrontation with his wife with regard to her extra-marital affairs.

After going through WhatsApp messages in his wife's mobile phone, the man sent messages to the men she was in contact with and wanted to confront them in person. 

The man then repeatedly gave his wife an ultimatum on whether she would rather be with him or commit suicide. Even though she initially replied that she would rather kill herself, she eventually relented and answered that she would rather be with him, leaving him dissatisfied with her answer. 

Without her consent, he forcibly stripped her down to her underwear and threatened to disseminate online a photo he took of her undressed state. 

SECOND VICTIM 

In March 2022, the man met a female co-worker and they later had a romantic relationship and lived together.

By May that year, the man had become verbally and physically abusive to the woman. 

On June 15, 2022, when the woman was running late for a polyclinic appointment, the man became frustrated at the situation. 

He started shouting at her and grabbed her neck before pushing her against the wall where she hit the back of her head. 

The man then choked her until she almost lost consciousness and urinated on herself in fear. When she sought medical attention, she lied to the doctor about how she got injured, saying that she had fainted and hit her head. 

Two weeks later, still feeling the effects of the assault, she went to the hospital again and was diagnosed with vertigo, which is characterised by dizzy spells and spinning sensations.

This incident came up later in August 2022 when a social worker made a police report about another incident of assault the month before, which the woman had confided in her.

‘PATTERN OF VIOLENCE’

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Teo Siu Ming sought a jail term of 46 to 60 weeks’ imprisonment, pointing to the man’s “continued pattern of violence” against intimate partners while on bail for other violence-related charges.  

The man’s lawyer, Mr Gregory Fong from law firm Fong and Fong LLC, argued that although the man clearly had “some anger and aggression issues”, he was a “young offender” who now wanted to be “a good example” to his three children. 

Mr Fong added that the man’s offences against his wife had taken place during a “turbulent marriage” and that he was provoked by her seeing other men. 

The man had also suspected that his girlfriend was having an affair, which made him violent and agitated again. 

“It doesn’t excuse it, but there is a reason. He didn’t attack her or do what he did for the fun of it,” Mr Fong said. 

In reply, DPP Teo said that even if the man had been wronged by his partners, he could have had a more “calibrated” response than assaulting them.  

“Everybody is an adult in this situation, there were many other alternative resolution methods that were not brutalising these women, (which) appears to be on a regular basis,” DPP Teo added. 

For each charge of voluntarily causing hurt, the man could have been jailed for up to three years or be fined up to S$5,000, or both.

Anyone convicted of using criminal force to deter a public servant on duty can be jailed for up to four years or fined. 

For distributing or threatening to distribute an intimate image, the man could have been jailed for up to five years or be fined or caned. 

Anyone who contravenes a protection order can be jailed for six months or fined up to S$2,000 for a first conviction.