Man jailed 5 weeks for punching housemate so hard, his tooth fell out
Chinese national Liu Lei, 36, was ordered to pay his housemate compensation of S$3,535 after a fight broke out over a bag of rubbish left in the kitchen of the flat they shared.
SINGAPORE — A painter who punched his housemate after a dispute, causing one of his teeth to fall out, was sentenced to five weeks’ jail on Wednesday (Sept 11).
Chinese national Liu Lei, 36, pleaded guilty to one charge of causing hurt to Mr Liu Jia, who shared a flat at Jurong West Street 65 with him. The housemates are not related.
District Judge Sarah Tan also ordered Liu Lei to pay S$3,535 in compensation to his victim, for the dental implant surgery he had to replace the tooth.
If he cannot pay up, he has to serve another week behind bars.
The court heard that when the incident happened on March 10 this year, Liu Lei and his housemate — a 35-year-old driver and fellow Chinese national — had been living in the flat for about three months with other tenants.
That morning, Mr Liu Jia was about to make breakfast in the kitchen when he saw a bag of trash on the stove. As he had seen Liu Lei doing his dishes there earlier, he went to Liu Lei's room and asked if he had put the bag there.
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On seeing the bag in the kitchen, Liu Lei said that it did not belong to him.
Later that morning, Mr Liu Jia used the messaging application WeChat to send a message to a chat group which comprised Liu Lei and the other tenants.
After asking the person who put the trash bag on the stove to own up, he reminded them to properly dispose of trash in the future.
Liu Lei felt offended because he thought Mr Liu Jia was talking to him and confronted him. An argument broke out between the two, even after Mr Liu Jia said that his words were not directed at him.
In the heat of the quarrel, Liu Lei pushed Mr Liu Jia on the chest a few times before punching him twice in the face.
Mr Liu Jia wanted to call the police at first but the other housemates tried to calm both men down.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Houston Johannus told the court: "(After) the accused and the victim had another dispute over the accused’s lack of apology and refusal to compensate the victim’s medical bills (for his injuries), the victim called the police (and said), ‘My co-tenant he punched me until my tooth dropped. He's still down there’.”
In mitigation, Liu said through a Chinese interpreter that he was “very remorseful” for his actions.
For causing hurt, he could have been jailed up to two years, or fined up to S$5,000, or both.
