SINGAPORE: A man previously convicted of injuring his wife did it again – this time punching her while in a moving car on an expressway, after an argument over a suspected affair.
A social worker later flagged the case to the police, who found the woman with bruises on her face.
But she has forgiven her husband and asked him to move back in with the family, while saying imprisonment would only worsen the situation.
Mohamad Indera Mohamed, 37, pleaded guilty on Thursday (Jun 22) to one count of voluntarily causing hurt to a person he was in an intimate relationship with. A second similar charge will be considered in sentencing.
The court heard that on Jun 2 last year, Indera and his 36-year-old wife were in a vehicle on the Pan Island Expressway when they began arguing.
Indera believed she was having an affair and trying to meet a male friend, despite her denials. In frustration, she opened the vehicle door while it was moving.
In a fit of anger, Indera punched his wife two to three times in the face.
The next day, he attacked her again, punching and kicking her.
A few days later on Jun 6, a social worker called the police, saying there was a situation where a husband hurt his wife badly. The social worker said there were three children in the house.
Indera’s wife was treated in hospital with multiple bruises and injuries over her eye, forehead, chest and hip.
The prosecution noted that Indera was convicted in 2003 of affray, and in 2013 of voluntarily causing hurt. In 2017, he was convicted of drug consumption and voluntarily causing hurt against the same victim – his wife.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yeo Zhen Xiong objected to the defence’s calling for a probation report. Mr Yeo said Indera had now been convicted of violent offences on three occasions and not demonstrated a strong propensity for reform.
There were also no exceptional circumstances warranting a probation order, he said.
MITIGATION
Indera’s lawyer, Mr Ryan David Lim from the Public Defender’s Office, said there were “clear root causes” for his client’s offending.
He said his client has anger management and jealousy issues, and sought counselling on his own accord.
He said Indera got sober from drugs after seeing the impact it had on his family. He is aware of his difficulty controlling his emotions and is “keen to be better”, said Mr Lim.
He said Indera’s wife had forgiven him and wishes him to seek help.
“She believes imprisonment would only worsen the situation and believes that counselling would help them move forward,” said the lawyer, adding that Indera going to jail would also have a financial impact on the family as he was the sole breadwinner.
Mr Lim said Indera had “dutifully adhered with bail conditions” including not living with his family for the past year, even if that meant not seeing his three young children.
District Judge Carol Ling adjourned the sentencing to a later date.
Mr Lim then asked for bail conditions to be varied, so that Indera could move back in with his family and interact with his wife. He has been living at his workplace or with his mother, said the lawyer.
He had a letter from Indera’s wife requesting that her husband be allowed this request.
The judge said she could allow the application, “with a certain amount of trepidation”.
“I trust that you have also considered … the repercussions if anything may occur in that period of time,” she told the defence lawyer, who acknowledged he had advised Indera about it.
Indera will return to court next month to be sentenced.
The penalties for voluntarily causing hurt is a jail term of up to three years, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.
As the offence is against a victim the offender was in an intimate relationship with, the penalties could be doubled.