GEIS-新闻详情

Jail for man who attacked father after serving earlier sentence for assaulting him

2023-07-18 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE – A man who was sent to jail in July 2021 for using violence against his father reoffended when he attacked the older man last October.

Tham Quan Hui, 29, was sentenced to 14 months and 10 weeks’ jail on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to five charges for offences including assault and theft.

The offences involved different incidents including those linked to his father and another relating to a 23-year-old woman.

In January 2015, a district judge imposed a personal protection order against Tham, prohibiting him from using violence against his father who is now 60.

Despite this, Tham assaulted the older man in early 2021 by kicking and choking him.

Tham was sentenced to seven weeks’ jail and a $2,000 fine in July that year.

After serving his jail term, the jobless man returned to a life of crime soon after.

Police arrested him on Aug 13, 2022, after he stole nearly $12 worth of groceries at a supermarket. He was released on bail the next day.

Court documents did not disclose what happened next, but he was at home with his father on Oct 8, 2022, when the latter gave him two slices of French toast. Tham became annoyed as he felt that the plate his father had used was too big, and a quarrel broke out between them.

He then choked his father who fell to the floor. The victim picked himself up and was walking away when Tham pushed the man, spat at him and challenged him to a fight. The father ignored his son and alerted the police later that day.

In an unrelated case on March 22, 2023, Tham got into a dispute with a 23-year-old woman near her workplace and took away her mobile phone. Details about her and how she was linked to him cannot be disclosed due to a gag order to protect her identity.

In a bid to retrieve the device, she threw warm coffee at him. Tham flew into a rage and kicked her abdomen at least twice. He also pushed her head before fleeing with the mobile phone.

He later accessed the device and used her WhatsApp account to send intimate images of her to her company’s chat group on the same platform.

He also sent multiple profanity-laced messages to a 31-year-old woman who was a manager at the firm.

Police re-arrested Tham on March 24. He was offered bail of $15,000 on Tuesday and was ordered to surrender himself at the State Courts on Aug 16 to begin serving his sentence.