Jail, cane for man who blamed wife’s friend for marriage woes and stabbed her
SINGAPORE — A 30-year-old unemployed man who blamed the breakdown of his marriage on his wife’s close friend lured the latter out on a date by using a friend’s account to express romantic interest in her via Facebook and Instagram.
He then stabbed her from behind with a knife without any warning. She was hospitalised for four days and was given 27 days of hospitalisation leave.
For his actions on Oct 11 last year, Muhammad Faizal Mohamed Salleh was sentenced to five years’ jail and eight strokes of the cane on Wednesday (April 17). He was also handed an additional two weeks’ jail sentence for punching his wife’s face and wrapping his hand around her neck on another occasion.
The court heard that Faizal’s wife, Ms Aishah Rosli, 24, told him that she wanted to leave him on Sept 10 last year. She then packed her bags and moved into the home of her friend, Ms Noordilah Fadilah, 23, the next day.
As his wife had blocked his access to her Facebook profile, Faizal created a fake Facebook profile and added his wife as a friend, only to find that she was going out with other men.
Concluding that Ms Noordilah was being a “bad influence”, Faizal then hatched a plan to assault her with a 15cm knife.
He first conversed with Ms Noordilah for about a month online using an account belonging to his friend and then asked to meet her in person on Oct 11 at a Queensway housing estate barbeque pit.
When she arrived at about 9.30pm, Faizal asked if they could meet at the void deck of Blk 146 Mei Ling Street as he said there were too many passers-by at the barbeque pit, making it hard to spot her.
With his face covered, Faizal hid behind a wall at the meeting point and lunged at Ms Noordilah from the back 30 minutes after she arrived, stabbing her with the knife multiple times on the right side of her body and ear.
Ms Noordilah tried to defend herself by pulling his jacket and they both fell during the scuffle.
Faizal pulled her sling bag violently and repeatedly kicked her hands away when she tried to grab his legs and pinned her to the ground.
He did not speak throughout the assault so his victim could not identify him.
However, his identity was eventually uncovered when he took the victim’s mobile phone by mistake. The phone was found at the rubbish chute of his home at Blk 104 Teck Whye Lane, along with the victim’s sling bag, earpiece and damaged NRIC, as well as Faizal’s bloodstained clothes and shoes.
According to court documents, Faizal had on Sept 10 punched Ms Aishah and put his hands around her neck after she told him she wanted a divorce. He also picked up a kitchen knife and told her to kill him. She only managed to calm him down after promising to be with him and to return to the flat every day.
Faizal then locked her inside the flat and took her keys and mobile phone.
She was only allowed to leave the next morning when she told her husband that she wanted to visit her parents after he left for work.
Her parents urged her to call the police after seeing the bruises on her body.
In asking the judge to impose a sentence of at least five years and two weeks’ jail and between six and nine strokes of the cane, Deputy Public Prosecutor Andre Ong said Faizal’s attack on Ms Noordilah was “relentless and vicious” and “unprovoked”.
“The accused had attacked (Ms Noordilah) merely based on his independently held belief that (she) had poisoned his wife’s mind against him and that she was a material contributing factor to his wife’s initiation of divorce proceedings,” he said.
