KUCHING, Jan 9 — A 29-year-old man was yesterday sentenced to 12 months behind bars by the Magistrates’ Court here for punching his wife in the face.

Magistrate Ling Hui Chan imposed the sentence on Barry Guillen after he pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 323 of the Penal Code read together Section 326A of the same Code.

Barry committed the offence against his 24-year-old wife at a house in Semeba here at 3.45am on January 4.

Based on the facts of case, Barry had asked his wife to go to the house because their child was unwell.

When his wife arrived in a car, Barry emerged from the house, opened the car door and punched her on the right side of her forehead.

During the incident, Barry demanded his wife return RM150 which he had given her for their child’s expenses.

However, his wife only had RM80 left and when she handed that over, Barry became further enraged.

This led him to land another punch on the right side of his wife’s mouth.

His wife then lodged a police report and Barry was arrested on January 5.

The investigation found that his wife suffered pain on the right side of her forehead and lips, which was later confirmed by a medical report.

Barry was unrepresented by legal counsel. — The Borneo Post