SINGAPORE: A 49-year-old man who admitted to injuring his ex-girlfriend in a fight days after they broke up received a 10-day short detention order on Tuesday (Dec 24).
Lim Hwa Ghee also admitted to swinging a kitchen chopper by Ms Chua Sok Hoon’s face multiple times while pinning her down on a bed to scare her.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt, with another charge of criminal intimidation taken into consideration.
The court heard that Lim was in a relationship with Ms Chua, 46, and that they lived together in her flat.
They ended their relationship after an argument in April 2023.
Two days after breaking up, on Apr 8, 2023, Lim and Ms Chua were in the flat when they got into a dispute over their relationship and Lim’s living arrangements.
The quarrel became heated and Ms Chua grabbed Lim’s shirt to prevent him from leaving the flat. Lim relented but pushed her shoulders, and she slapped him to defend herself.
Angered, Lim slapped Ms Chua twice and took a chopper from the kitchen. He then dragged her to the bedroom by her arm.
He threw her onto the bed and pinned her chest down with his hand while swinging the chopper beside her face a few times as she covered her face.
While doing this, Lim asked her: “You still want to do this, is it?”
At some point, he lost his grip on the chopper and it fell to the ground. Ms Chua, who was crying, saw an opportunity to get away and left the bedroom.
They continued to quarrel in the living room, including over a quilt cover that had become bloodied during the earlier struggle. Ms Chua told Lim he was “in trouble”.
Lim wanted to remove the quilt cover to have it cleaned, and she struggled with him to prevent him from doing so. He eventually relented.
Ms Chua prevented Lim from leaving the flat twice more, agitating him.
He grabbed her neck with one hand and pushed her against the wall, causing her to be unable to breathe for a moment, before immediately letting go.
Ms Chua then told Lim to leave the house, and he did. She reported the incident to the police later that day.
A medical examination found bruising on her neck, chest and arms as well as an abrasion on her neck and a cut on her arm.
She was given pain medication and three days of sick leave.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chan Yi Cheng initially asked for five to six weeks’ jail for Lim, but revised this to a short detention order of seven to 14 days after arguments were made.
He described the assault as persistent and serious, highlighting Lim’s act of grabbing the victim’s neck, which is a vulnerable area, and the use of a chopper to intimidate her.
Defence counsel Mr Asoka Markandu initially sought a high fine, but revised this to a short detention order of three days.
He argued that his client was not the aggressor in the fight.
The lawyer said Lim had gone to the flat to return his car keys and wanted to leave, but the victim prevented him from leaving each time, and the argument escalated.
Mr Chan countered that Lim’s reaction was “over the top” and that he became the aggressor as the incident unfolded.
District Judge John Ng said that in cases of voluntarily causing hurt, it was important to consider the context of how the violence arose.
Lim’s actions met the threshold for a custodial term rather than a fine, but a community-based sentence was suitable as he was a first-time offender, the judge said.
While there was a tumultuous aspect to Lim’s relationship with the victim, there was no ongoing violence and the offence was a one-off incident, Judge Ng added.
He also noted that the victim had clarified that the cut on her arm had been sustained accidentally during the fight, and was not from Lim swinging the chopper.
A short detention order is a community-based sentence of up to 14 days that acts as a deterrent by allowing an offender to experience prison life, but does not leave a criminal record.
The maximum punishment for voluntarily causing hurt is three years in jail, a S$5,000 (US$3,680) fine, or both.
