Man gets jail after threatening wife with knives, telling her to be ‘prostitute in Geylang’

SINGAPORE — Angry with his pregnant wife for going to a moneylender, a man took out knives to threaten her in view of their young child at home and threw plates at a wall.

He also told her that he was going to make her be a prostitute.

The 42-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to three months' jail after pleading guilty on Tuesday (May 23) to threatening his 40-year-old wife and six-year-old son.

A second charge where he had verbally threatened his wife was taken into consideration during sentencing.

The couple also have a four-year-old boy and a daughter, whose age was not disclosed.

The children in this case are below the age of 18 and protected by the Children and Young Persons Act, so any information leading to their identification cannot be published.

WHAT HAPPENED

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Bryont Chin said that on the evening of July 27 last year, the man was in possession of a small knife at home and had gone to take another knife with a black handle from the kitchen.

He then proceeded to confront his wife, who was in the third trimester of pregnancy, for taking a loan with a licensed moneylender, and an argument ensued between them.

He said to his wife: "I want to bring you to Geylang to be a prostitute. You are no different from the prostitute in Geylang. Do you know that they are coming to attack our family in two lorries because of what you've done?"

He also threatened to injure his wife and the older son by using the knives to “stab” at a sofa and a table, DPP Chin said.

The wife then took their two sons back to their bedroom when she could not get her husband to calm down during their quarrel. The whereabouts of their daughter at this point is not known.

It was during this time that the man took porcelain plates from a storeroom and threw them at a wall.

DPP Chin told the court that the man's mother, who was home then, heard the argument and called out to him. While they were talking, his wife hid behind her children's bedroom cupboard and called 999 for police assistance.

Police officers attended to the case and called for an ambulance due to an injury on the wife’s little finger. She had cut herself while clearing the broken plates.

The man was arrested on the same day for criminal intimidation.

Mitigating on his behalf, lawyer Dhillon Surinder Singh from Dhillon & Panoo LLC disagreed with the prosecution, which sought a three- to four-month jail term.

He said that the incident was a "one-off transgression" and imprisoning the father will not help "solve the family peace".

Mr Singh also said that the father was "much needed" in the family circle especially in raising the children, so it would be fair and reasonable to ask for a lighter sentence as "sufficient deterrence". He sought one month's jail term.

However, DPP Chin argued that the man had initially claimed trial before he decided to plead guilty on Tuesday, which showed that he had "little remorse" for his actions. 

In delivering her sentence, District Judge Wong Li Tein agreed with the prosecution's position, noting that "distress was caused" by the man’s actions and they were done to "cause alarm" to his wife and young child.

For threatening to cause grievous hurt, the man could have been jailed up to 10 years or fined, or both.