Man admits assaulting wife over condo sale proceeds, fracturing her ribs

SINGAPORE: Angered when his wife disagreed with his suggestion to use profits from the sale of their condominium unit to pay off his credit card bills, a man attempted to slap the mother of his children across a table.

When she evaded him, the man walked over and hit her multiple times on her head and back before assaulting her with his utensils and flinging her to the ground.

The victim fractured her clavicle, ribs and facial bones from the encounter.

Au Yong Khin Mun, a 39-year-old Singaporean man, pleaded guilty on Wednesday (Sep 24) to one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt against a person he was in an intimate relationship with.

The court heard that he was married for about five years to his wife, a 38-year-old woman. They have two four-year-old twin daughters and a two-year-old son.

At about 9am on Dec 2, 2024, the couple dropped off their twins at a preschool near the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) before heading to the university canteen for a meal.

While eating, Au Yong told his wife that he intended to use some of the profits from the sale of a condominium unit they owned to pay off his credit card bills.

The victim disagreed, saying all the profits should be used to buy a Housing Board flat instead, so the couple and their children could live on their own instead of with the victim's parents.

This upset Au Yong. At about 9.30am, he attempted to slap his wife twice across the table.

When his slaps failed to land, he walked over to his wife and hit her five times on the head and four times on her back.

When Au Yong returned to his seat, his wife tried to walk away.

While her back was to him, Au Yong hit his wife's head with his cup of iced coffee. He struck her head twice with his plate of food, hit her head twice with his hand and kneed her twice in the back.

He then grabbed her arms from behind and flung her body to the ground with some force, court documents said.

The impact fractured the victim's left clavicle, several ribs and bones around her eyes.

The woman lay on the floor in pain but Au Yong did not help her. Instead, he continued to have a "verbal dispute" with her for about one-and-a-half minutes, while bystanders helped her to her feet.

The victim was taken to hospital and warded for a few days. Her fractured clavicle was treated surgically and reviewed a few weeks later, where an assessment stated that healing and rehabilitation would take up to six to 12 months.

Au Yong's actions were captured on closed-circuit television footage.

The prosecutor sought 24 to 26 months' jail and six strokes of the cane, saying the main aggravating factor was the manner of the attack.

Au Yong had sought to attack the victim at three different points, inflicting multiple blows each time.

"Each of these three attacks also escalated in ferocity and ultimately culminated in the blow that is the subject of the charge," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Suriya Prakash.

"The third attack was especially cowardly because the accused waited for the victim to turn her back to him before he attacked her, rendering her defenceless."

Au Yong was represented by Mr Raphael Louis, who told the court that his client was facing divorce proceedings.

Sentencing was adjourned to November.

The penalty for voluntarily causing grievous hurt is a maximum of 10 years' jail and a fine or caning.

As the offence was against a victim in an intimate relationship with the offender, penalties can go up to double the allowed maximum.