Court rejects appeal by man who refused to accept divorce, noting 'perfectly timed' heart problems

SINGAPORE: The High Court on Tuesday (Jan 27) rejected an appeal by a man against an interim divorce judgment, noting that he had "resisted every move" by his ex-wife to end their marriage and had "perfectly timed" heart failures to stymie court hearings.

According to a judgment released on Tuesday, Justice Choo Han Teck laid out the background of the former couple's troubles.

They were married in 2009 and have two children, but their relationship started deteriorating significantly from October 2019 when they began living apart, according to the woman.

The woman alleged numerous incidents of her ex-husband's "unreasonable behaviour" from that time, which includes domestic violence, harassment, threats and financial neglect.

THE AFFAIR ACCUSATION

The first major incident was in October 2019 when the man allegedly accused his wife of having an affair.

He allegedly assaulted her, kicking her stomach, holding her by her neck and pushing her forcefully against a window that had no grille.

The woman lodged a police report, but her husband's suspicions about infidelity persisted, and the woman finally agreed to a prenatal paternity test for their younger child.

It was proven that it was the man's own child. 

During this period, the man allegedly pawned the woman's jewellery to pay for the paternity test and humiliated her by telling friends and church members that the baby was not his.

The woman claimed that the harassment and threats continued through 2020 to 2021, with the man demanding money from her, following her to public places where he would shout and threaten to expose alleged extramarital affairs to her workplace, tracking her to a friend's home and threatening her social circle.

According to the woman, the man assaulted her in February 2021 by holding her neck and pushing her against a wall in their master bedroom.

Following this incident, she applied for a personal protection order against him.

The relationship deteriorated further in late 2021 and early 2022, when the man allegedly destroyed the closed-circuit television in the master bedroom and kept kicking the bedroom door.

Throughout January and February 2022, he allegedly stalked and threatened the woman, following her around and attempting to forcibly take their son from her, leading to multiple police reports being filed.

The man arranged for mediation before two church members in early February 2022, but this failed when the woman refused to withdraw her application for a personal protection order.

This led to another altercation, and the man later reported his wife to her workplace for actions that "seriously damaged" the reputation of the hospital where she worked.

In March 2022, the couple signed an agreement witnessed by a solicitor stating that the woman would withdraw her personal protection order application in exchange for the man's promise of good behaviour.

The agreement stated that if the man breached the clauses for good behaviour, the divorce would proceed by consent with specific arrangements for property division.

The woman thus withdrew her application for a personal protection order about a week later.

However, days later, the couple had another altercation near the solicitor's premises.

On Jul 17, 2022, the man allegedly returned to the matrimonial home having tested positive for COVID-19, violating isolation protocols and endangering the family's health.

WOMAN FILES FOR DIVORCE

In August 2022, the woman filed for divorce.

Justice Choo Han Teck said the man contested the divorce "strenuously, leading to significant delays".

After the man failed multiple times to strike out the application, the contested divorce hearing was scheduled for August 2024.

However, it was adjourned nine times between then and March 2025, with the man claiming each time to be suffering from heart ailments.

The hearing finally proceeded on Sep 9, 2024, and was conducted remotely to accommodate the man's medical condition.

However, he had pre-arranged for an ambulance to arrive during the hearing.

After the woman completed her evidence-in-chief, the man refused to cross-examine her and the hearing was terminated when the ambulance arrived.

The man later filed an application asking for the district judge to be recused, but this was dismissed. Despite this, the man refused to proceed with the divorce proceedings.

Due to his continued refusal to take part in oral cross-examination, the district judge directed an exchange of written questions by certain dates in October.

On March 2025, after more than two-and-a-half years since the divorce writ was filed, the district judge granted an interim judgment in favour of the woman, finding that the marriage had irretrievably broken down because of the man's unreasonable behaviour.

The man appealed against this decision. 

However, the day before the appeal was to be heard in January 2026, he suffered another heart failure and emailed a medical report to the registry stating that he was not able to attend court.

Justice Choo said that it seemed to him - from the affidavits of both sides and the court findings - that the marriage had already broken down in 2019.

He said "there were no signs of recovery although the appellant resisted every move by the respondent to formally end the marriage".

"The appellant may have a weak heart, but it stoutly persisted in perfectly timed failures - nine times - either on the eve of court proceedings or on the day of the proceedings itself; and even once in the midst of a hearing when it appeared that the proceedings were not going his way," said Justice Choo.

He said the heart problem on Jan 23, 2026 was the 10th one to have stymied a court hearing.

"His medical report could only say that the appellant 'complained of chest pain at rest', which seems to me, the polite way of saying that there were no clinical symptoms, and without further tests, the attending physician could only take the appellant's word for it. It was thus not an emergency," said Justice Choo.

He said that while the medical certificate was authentic and excused him from attending court, the background of his "serial heart failures" led the judge to conclude that it was "more than a physical impediment to the appellant attending court".

Justice Choo said he was convinced from the evidence of the man's past conduct that he had "no intention of pursuing his appeal".

He said the woman and her two young children must carry on with their lives without this matter "blighting them without end".

"From the record, it also seemed to me that there was no merit in the appeal. The appellant must accept that when it is time to end, it is best to have a graceful end, so that everyone, including himself, may begin anew," he said.

He dismissed the appeal, and the ancillary matters of the divorce can subsequently be finalised.