Man jailed 6 months for hitting wife with back scratcher

• Philip Ong Guo Xiong got into an argument with his wife and hit her several times with a back scratcher
• His wife had already taken out a personal protection order against him
• In an outburst during the hearing, Ong accused the prosecutor of “loving” his wife
• He also said his wife had abused him

SINGAPORE — An argument with his wife left a man so angry that he breached a personal protection order that she had taken out against him and attacked her with a back scratcher that left her with several bruises on the arm.

On Tuesday (May 11), Philip Ong Guo Xiong, 33, pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt and one charge of breaching the personal protection order and was jailed for six months.

His sentence was backdated to March 30 this year, the date of his remand.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Daniel Ling told the court that Ong’s 33-year-old wife Tan Ru Cheung had filed for a personal protection order against her husband on May 18 in 2017, which remained in force at the time of the offence.

DPP Ling said that Ong had a history of violence and had breached another personal protection order in the past.

The latest incident took place sometime between March 15 and March 18 this year as a result of a dispute between the couple.

While the prosecution did not give details on what the argument was about, DPP Ling said that it had left Ong so incensed that he began hitting her five times with a back scratcher, bruising both of her arms.

When asked if he understood the charges that were read to him, a visibly agitated Ong did not dispute the facts.

He said that he would not hit his wife again and that he wanted to “get back into society” and live with his wife.

However, he went off on a tangent and claimed that there were many men who loved his wife. He even hurled this accusation at DPP Ling.

“Prosecutor, you love my wife, ah? You evil... I see you smiling,” Ong, who spoke from remand via video, said. He was not represented by a lawyer.

When District Judge Kessler Soh allowed Ong to make his mitigation plea, he asked for a lighter sentence.

However, he also said that he was similarly a victim of abuse from his wife, and claimed that he, too, had taken a personal protection order against her.

Ong even pulled down his lower lip to show that he was missing the front teeth on his lower jaw.

He said that this was a result of his wife using him as a punching bag.

“I don’t have teeth anymore. My teeth... my wife punch until drop. How (do) you think I feel? I did not report anything against her,” he said, adding that he now has trouble eating because “rice would fall out”.

Before the hearing, Ong was overheard telling a court staff member, who had read the charges to him, that the “world was unfair” and that “always (the) girl wins”.

Ong said that his wife suspected him of having affairs with other women — a claim he denied — and he, too, thought that she was cheating on him with other men, “like this Mr Ling”.

Neither DPP Ling nor District Judge Soh responded to Ong’s accusations.

Ong said that a note written by his wife to the court had pleaded that he should be treated with leniency. The contents were not read out in public.

District Judge Soh warned Ong not to hit his wife anymore or he would only find himself back in court again and would face stiffer penalties.

For voluntarily causing hurt, Ong could have been jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$5,000, or both.

For breaching a personal protection order, he could have been jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$2,000, or both.