A Singapore doctor was sentenced to jail and canning besides S$4,000 fine for assaulting and locking up his girlfriend leaving her with facial fractures on Monday (June 22).
The 35-year-old doctor, Clarence Teo Shun Jie, locked up 27-year-old Rachel Lim En Hui and assaulted her for refusing sex in 2017. Teo, who was found guilty in March, also charged with two additional counts of voluntary causing hurt under section 320 and 321 of Singapore penal code. He received three years, six month and two weeks of imprisonment and four canning.
The prosecution narrated the casein its argument before the court that the two met on a dating app Coffee Meets Bagel a month prior to the incident in February 2017. On March 12, 2017, the pair returned to Teo's flat from a dinner date. Teo, who was under the heavy influence of alcohol, wanted to have sex. But Rachel refused as she was tired. But he forced. When Rachel expressed her discontent over the incident, by saying "why is it always about what you want?" and "why don't you care about what I want?", Teo began assaulting her.
He punched her in the face and she started bleeding from her mouth as she bit her own cheek. When Rachel tried to escape, Teo brought up her past relationships and punched her again. However, she managed to leave somehow. Later, Teo apologized to her claiming he had anger management issues.
Punched in the Face Multiple Times
But a few days later, Teo sent Rachel a nude photograph of her, saying she could be an "internet sensation." On March 29, when Rachel decided to break up with him over the phone, he verbally abused her. While she ignored his texts and calls, he waited for her to leave for work and dragged her into his car. He hit her several times before punching her in the face again. He repeatedly targeted her face to make her look bad, saying "Oh, you think you're very pretty is it? You're not pretty, okay?"
Teo took her to his home and locked her in his bedroom. He also poured apple juice on her with air-conditioning on and punched her in the face again. When she wanted to change her wet clothes, he refused and pored more juice on her head. But eventually, after several hours, he let her change clothes.
She begged him to let her leave but he refused. After several hours, she managed to convince him that she would need a medical certificate as an excuse for her absence from work. Eventually, he let her leave. They went to a clinic for medical attention and the next day a police complaint was filed.
Teo's Father Called Police
During the trial, it was revealed that it was Teo's father who called the police after hearing crying sound from the room. Police broke down his door and found Rachel with a swollen face and badly beaten.
The assault left her with several facial fractures, broken hand and brain haemorrhage. She spent 20 days in the hospital and left with post-traumatic stress disorder. Her prosecutors said that she had to seek help from the Institute of Mental Health 26 times until March 2019.
After contesting the trial, Teo said he had alcohol dependency and he had no memory of the incident. "I recall people handcuffing me. I didn't know where I was. Someone told me I was in Police Cantonment Complex," he told the judge.
Under section 325, Teo could have faced 10 years in prison and $10,000 fine or both. Under section 342, he could have faced an additional three years in prison.
