An Indian-origin man has been sentenced to jail for ten weeks in Singapore for having no control of his rage and assaulting his pregnant girlfriend, now wife.
Singapore District Court Judge Mathew Joseph sentenced Mohamed Mustaffa Ali (24) after he pleaded guilty to two counts of assault – one was a road rage case last year and the other for hurting his pregnant girlfriend in 2017.
The judge also chastised Mustaffa for his penchant for violence and having no control over his rage.
According to the prosecution, in the early hours of June 11, 2017, Mustaffa had quarrelled with his girlfriend Shahiqah Nadiyeh Mohammad Herman, then 21, over her former boyfriend.
In the course of their quarrel, Mustaffa slapped her face three times and kicked her thigh twice, despite knowing she was four months pregnant. He had also pulled her off a mattress she was sitting on in a cousin's house.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ng Jun Chong told the court that Mustaffa had then dragged the victim out of the room and into the corridor.
His cousin then called the police. When the police arrived, Shahiqah refused to have a medical examination but told them she had bruises from Mustaffa's assault.
She later gave birth to a healthy boy and married Mustaffa last December.
Mustaffa had shown his aggressive behaviour in another incident in March 2018. He was driving a rented car on the extreme right lane of an expressway at about 9pm when he flashed the high beam at a car travelling in front of him at 60 to 70km/h.
The car moved to the middle lane, but when the vehicles were side by side, both drivers wound down their windows to exchange vulgarities and rude gestures.
They then stopped their cars at the road shoulder and assaulted one another.
The judge made stern remarks over the behaviour of Mustaffa. He said, “I find your actions quite disgusting and despicable. You used violence once before and you did it again. You think our Singapore roads are some kind of lawless place? I have no sympathy for your actions.”
He told Mustaffa that marrying the woman he hurt did not reduce his culpability. "Even though she is your wife now, that does not in any way diminish your responsibility."
He then sentenced Mustaffa to six weeks' jail for voluntarily causing hurt in the road rage case and four weeks' jail for hurting Shahiqah.
For each count of voluntarily causing hurt, Mustaffa could have been jailed for up to two years, or fined up to SGD 5,000, or both. For committing a rash act, he could have been jailed for up to a year, or fined up to SGD 5,000, or both.