23-year-old Nurul Natasha Sazali was sentenced to an eight-month jail term, last Friday (24 May), after she punched her mother-in-law in the face and slashed her with a chopper.
The court heard that Nurul, who lived in western Singapore with her 25-year-old husband and his 68-year-old mother, attacked her mother-in-law in a fit of rage last December after the elderly woman confronted her over a suspected affair.
It was Nurul’s husband who asked his mother to confront Nurul over the suspected extramarital affair with another man. Accepting her son’s request, Nurul’s mother-in-law confronted the young wife while she was giving her a massage.
The court heard that the elderly woman asked Nurul whether her son was not good enough for her, and whether “one husband was not enough for her”. Enraged by the accusation, Nurul punched the victim multiple times on the face, before rushing to the kitchen and grabbing a 30cm-long chopper.
Confronting her mother-in-law, Nurul shouted “You better die lah,” before slashing the victim twice in the back with the weapon.
The elderly victim managed to grab a hold of the chopper and flung it aside before running out of her house, with Nurul following her. Later that same night, Nurul’s husband contacted the police and reported that his “wife slashed my mother and throw away the knife.”
Nurul was subsequently arrested and referred to the Institute of Mental Health for a psychiatric evaluation. While the IMH found that Nurul was not suffering from any mental illness or a major depressive disorder at the time of the incident, it noted that she has borderline personality traits like a fear of abandonment and tendency to become angry easily.
Nurul’s mother-in-law did not suffer any permanent injuries but was hospitalised at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital for three days after suffering head injuries and lacerations to her lip, fingers, forearm, back and shoulder. A medical report showed that any scars, keloids or scar tissues she forms as a result of the attack could limit her hand functions.
The judge, however, noted that “seems that the victim feels safe enough to resume family life in the same household” despite the “extensive” injuries Nurul inflicted on the victim.
Ordering the police to dispose of the assault weapon, District Judge Ong Chin Rhu sentenced Nurul to 8 months in jail after she pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon and after taking two other charges of criminal intimidation and voluntarily causing hurt into consideration.
Nurul could have been fined and jailed a maximum of seven years for the charge she admitted to. -/TISG