Man slapped wife, threatened to kill their baby after she told him to 'shut up' for talking loudly on phone

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
March 21, 2024

A man who got into a tiff with his wife threatened to kill their baby if she left their flat with the little girl.

The man, who was working as a mover at the time, slapped his wife’s face twice during the dispute.

The housewife then left their baby behind and ran to her mother’s flat at another block nearby.

Her mother asked her son-in-law to hand over the baby, but he refused to do so, prompting the older woman to alert the police.

After officers arrived at the scene, the baby, who had no visible injuries, was handed to her grandmother. The child’s age was not mentioned in court documents.

The 24-year-old man was sentenced to three months’ jail on March 21 after he pleaded guilty to one count each of assault and criminal intimidation.

He also admitted to an unrelated offence under the Computer Misuse Act.

He cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter under the Children and Young Persons Act.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Chye Jer Yuan said the man married his 21-year-old wife on March 19, 2023, and they have a baby girl together.

The baby was sleeping in their rental flat on May 14, 2023, when the wife told her husband to “shut up” as he was talking loudly on his phone in their bedroom.

The man then retrieved a knife from the kitchen, held the blunt side of the blade against his wife’s throat and threatened to cut her.

He subsequently flung the knife to the floor, grabbed his wife’s throat and pushed her head towards the window grilles. He then took the baby to the living room.

The wife told him that she wanted to take their daughter to her mother’s flat.

She then picked up the knife and said she would cut her hand if he refused to let her take the little girl. When he said he did not care, she cut her left forearm.

APP Chye told the court: “Upon seeing this, the accused came over and grabbed the knife before throwing it on the sofa.

“The accused stopped the victim when she tried to (take) the baby out of the (flat) and told her, ‘I will kill the baby if you ever leave the house’. Both continued to argue... and the accused slapped the victim’s face twice.”

At around 1pm, his wife fled to her mother’s home. The older woman shouted across to the man’s block to ask him to hand over the little girl, but he refused.

The baby was later placed under a Child Protective Service safety plan. Under the plan, she will not live with her father, and an appointed guardian must supervise all access to her.

In an unrelated case, the man told investigators that one of his friends, known only as Sam, had approached him to ask if he wanted to set up an audio company.

According to him, Sam wanted to register the firm under the man’s name and asked for information such as his Singpass details in exchange for $1,050.

The man received the amount after he shared his details with Sam, who opened a bank account under the man’s name.

The account was active from Nov 12 to 17, 2021. In that time, over $176,000 was credited into it and more than $175,000 was withdrawn.

Court documents did not disclose the source of these monies or provide details of the transactions.