SINGAPORE, Aug 26 — When the woman Shao Changdong had a crush on told him she was not free to see him because she was out with friends, he assumed she was meeting other men, got jealous and broke into her home to lie in wait for her return.

He was armed with a knife, two sleeping pills and a liquid mixture to incapacitate her.

When she returned, he grabbed her neck so hard that he fractured a bone.

Shao, a 27-year-old Chinese national, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ jail on Thursday (Aug 26) for his actions, which took place in September last year. He has been remanded since then.

The former advertisement board maker pleaded guilty to one charge each of abduction, causing grievous hurt, criminal intimidation and housebreaking with preparation to wrongfully restrain the victim.

Two other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that he and the victim, a 28-year-old Singaporean, had rented bedrooms in the same Bedok unit in 2016.

She moved out in July 2019 and rented another room in Telok Blangah.

He told her in the middle of last year that he liked her but she rejected him. Nevertheless, they continued keeping in touch as he owed her money and she wanted to get it back.

‘Just listen to what i say’

On the evening of Sept 5 last year, Shao asked her over messaging platform WeChat if he could send some fruits to her.

When she said she would be out drinking till late in Orchard with some friends, he felt unhappy and envious as he thought these friends included other men.

He packed a foldable knife, sleeping pills, a piece of white cloth and a bottle of clear liquid containing a mixture of water and a cleaning agent and headed to her rented unit.

Shao, who had sent her back to the Telok Blangah home before, knew that she left a key to the unit at her room window.

He used this key to enter her unit, then forced her locked bedroom door open and waited for her.

He continued sending her text messages to ask when she would be done with drinks. She replied at 3.30am that she was just done and they should meet another day.

When she returned and entered her bedroom, he grabbed her neck so forcefully that she could not breathe and stopped screaming. He locked her door and placed the cloth over her nose and mouth for a few seconds while she struggled.

He then told her: "If you don’t want to get injured, don’t talk.”

She gestured her acceptance and he loosened his grip, before showing her the pills in a ziplock bag. She pretended to comply with his demand to swallow the pills but did not consume them.

He then held the knife against her neck, saying in Mandarin: "If you do not want to see blood, just listen to what I say.”

He eventually dragged her out of the unit, telling her they would take a taxi to his house. But he then said he wanted to buy cigarettes from a nearby convenience store at Block 109 Bukit Purmei Road.

She did not call out for help as he told her he would retrieve the knife again if she screamed.

While in the convenience store, she tried to hold onto a display shelf in a bid to escape. He pulled her out of the store and dragged her to a field.

A taxi driver saw the commotion and called the police. After police officers approached the pair, Shao put the victim in a chokehold, but let go when the officers told him to do so.

The victim was taken to Singapore General Hospital and given 20 days of medical leave. She had suffered superficial abrasions and a hyoid bone fracture from being grabbed by the neck in her unit.

Significant premeditation

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kathy Chu asked for four to six years’ imprisonment for Shao, noting that he had shown "significant premeditation and planning”.

Shao, who did not have a lawyer, said in mitigation that he went to the victim’s home just to chat but that they had ended up arguing. He also alleged that the pills were for his own insomnia and just happened to be on him.

After District Judge Eugene Teo sentenced him, Shao said he felt the punishment was too heavy. The judge told him he could appeal against it.

The offences of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and breaking into a home to wrongfully restrain the victim, attract a maximum jail term of 10 years. Offenders can also be fined or caned.

For abduction, Shao could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, caned, or receive any combination of the three. — TODAY