SINGAPORE, Aug 22 — Enraged at seeing his wife hold hands with another man near a coffee shop, despite their denial of an affair, Wong Choo Boon retrieved a tool from his car and struck the other man on his ear.
Later, when Wong saw that his wife and the victim were still holding hands, he drove his car onto the pavement in an attempt to get his wife to return home with him.
On Wednesday (Aug 21), Wong, a 53-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to 18 weeks’ jail and banned from holding a driving licence for a year from his release.
He had pleaded guilty to two charges of driving his car in a rash way manner and voluntarily causing hurt with an instrument.
Another charge of using criminal force was also considered for sentencing.
What happened
On Feb 26 this year, Wong’s 54-year-old wife, known as Mary, went to meet a male friend for dinner and conversations around Block 419 Yishun Avenue 11.
The friend, who is the victim, is 49 years old. His name was not disclosed in court documents.
Mary met the victim at the void deck of a public housing block. He was drinking beer and did not want to have dinner, but he accompanied her to have her dinner in a coffee shop at Block 418.
Later, they both went to a mart at Block 419 to buy four cans of beer for Mary to drink. The court heard that they continued drinking long into the evening, each imbibing about four cans of beer.
Close to 1am, when they were about to leave, Mary wheeled her bicycle along the pavement of Block 419 and the victim was walking beside her.
At around the same time, Wong was driving along Yishun Avenue 11 when he saw his wife with the victim, and saw that the victim “wanted to kiss Mary”, court documents stated.
Wong parked his car, got out and confronted the duo. Wong scolded them and asked them why they were holding hands and if they were having an affair.
Both of them denied having an affair and they started arguing.
Around the same time, a witness living on the 11th floor of one of the housing blocks along Yishun Avenue 11 was about to sleep when he heard a commotion.
He went to his bedroom window and saw Wong behaving aggressively and shouting. He watched as the events unfolded.
Wong walked to his car, opened the boot and found a tool inside. The tool was a metal towing eyelet at least 21cm in length and weighing about 800g.
He took the tool and walked back to where Mary and the victim were standing with the intention of fighting with the victim.
At this point, the witness took out his phone to record the incident.
Wong walked hastily and aggressively towards the duo with the tool in his hand.
When Mary tried to stop Wong from getting close to the victim, Wong pushed her once, causing her to fall sideways.
She suffered an abrasion on her left knee and left elbow area. Wong then struck the victim once on his left ear with the tool. The victim started to bleed from his ear.
Wong continued to argue with the duo. Before leaving, Wong kicked his wife's bicycle once.
After he had placed the tool back in his car boot, Wong drove around and saw that his wife and the victim were still holding hands.
Further angered by this, he drove the car onto the pavement and up to where the duo were standing behind a tree.
He urged his wife to get back in the car, but when he saw that they were still holding hands, Wong shouted from inside, reversed the car and drove away.
The victim was taken to emergency care at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and was treated for the cut on his ear. He was discharged on the same day.
For voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon, Wong could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, caned, or received any combination of the punishments.
For driving on a public way or driving in a rash manner, he could have been jailed up to year or fined up to S$5,000, or both.
The penalty for using criminal force on a person is up to three months jail or a fine of up to S$1,500, or both.