Man fined for injuring colleague’s neck while trying to massage him

SINGAPORE: A man who permanently injured his colleague while massaging him was fined S$3,000 (US$2,230) on Monday (Jan 27). 

Ng Jian Ye Eugene, 32, pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt by an act which endangered the personal safety of others. He twisted the victim’s neck while the latter was on a phone call in their office, causing him to suffer a cervical sprain or strain. 

In his mitigation plea, Ng’s lawyers Mr Suang Wijaya and Mr Hamza Malik from Eugene Thuraisingam LLP noted that he has represented Singapore in wushu. He learned about sports massage from his coach, and is a Muay Thai coach himself who regularly offered massages to his friends and colleagues. 

“These massages are intended to and have helped his colleagues and friends with their pains, soreness and muscle aches,” the defence said. 

On Nov 11, 2022, Ng approached the victim from behind while the latter was speaking to a client on the phone while using a headset in the office. 

He placed one hand on the top of the victim’s head and the other on the victim’s chin, and then twisted the victim’s neck once in a clockwise direction and once in an anti-clockwise direction.

Ng had massaged the victim multiple times at the latter’s request, and had massaged him in “the routine way” on the day of the incident, the defence claimed. 

Since the victim, 31, was on a call, he did not react and Ng walked away. 

After the call ended, the victim felt discomfort in his neck and visited a clinic later that evening, where he was diagnosed with a sprained neck and given five days of medical leave. 

The victim continued to feel pain in his neck and was referred to get an MRI scan on Nov 16, 2022, which revealed several levels of disc desiccation. 

Disc desiccation is the gradual loss of hydration, or water, from an intervertebral disc in the spine. 

The victim consulted an orthopaedic surgeon on Nov 24, 2022, who concluded that he had sustained a cervical sprain or strain. The doctor also found that the victim did not have pre-existing conditions, and gave him hospitalisation leave until Jan 25, 2024. 

The victim informed the human resources department of their company of the incident, and the department said they would be treating their report as a workplace accident, which would potentially entitle him to compensation from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for the cost of his treatment. 

The company, TDCX, objected to an assessment that the victim had sustained a permanent incapacity. After MOM referred him to a specialist panel, the Work Injury Compensation Board gave a final assessment of “15 per cent permanent incapacity” in September 2023. 

The victim lodged a police report on Dec 8 that year. 

In mitigation, the defence called attention to a letter from a mutual friend who met the victim one month after the incident. In her testimony, she claimed that the victim “acted completely normally” and “did not show any signs of distress”. 

The defence noted that this was a more superficial observation, but stressed that “contemporaneous” observation should be taken into account. 

In response, Deputy Public Prosecutor Melissa Heng urged the court not to place weight on the letter from this testimony, since it was an unsigned and undated document. 

“This does not constitute proof that the victim was indeed not in any distress or pain at the time,” she added, stressing that the medical report laid out the most accurate assessment of the victim’s injuries. 

Even though Ng had massaged colleagues or other people he knew, he was still an untrained masseuse, said Ms Heng, who added that the workplace is not a setting for a proper massage. 

The penalty for causing grievous hurt to any person through a negligent act is up to two years in prison, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.