Singapore—A doctor who made the news last November for having said he could not remember that he had beaten his former girlfriend in an alcoholic blackout was convicted on Monday (Mar 9) of one count each of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and wrongful confinement. The doctor was also slapped with a wrongful confinement charge as he locked the woman up in his bedroom when he assaulted her.
Thirty-five-year old Clarence Teo Shun Jie beat 27-year-old Rachel Lim En Hui so badly in the morning hours of Aug 27, 2017 that she suffered from a brain bleed, a fracture on her finger, and a number of facial fractures. After her assault, Ms Lim had to undergo treatment for acute stress disorder.
Dr Teo beat Ms Lim after she questioned him for forcing her to have sex with him.
His lawyers claimed during his trial last November that he was suffering an alcoholic blackout at the time of the assault, and therefore was incapable of forming the intent to commit the assault.
This argument, however, was dismissed by the judge, according to a report from Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
The couple had gone out on a date previous to the incident, which occurred in his apartment at Redhill. When Dr Teo initiated sexual intercourse, Ms Lim asked him, “Why is it always about what you want?” and “Why don’t you care about what I want?”
This triggered him to assault her. He locked the door to his bedroom and kept on beating her until the police, who had been called by his father as he has been woken by the noise from his son’s room, arrived at the flat.
Dr Teo’s defence did not deny that he had locked Ms Lim up and beaten her.
He later told the police, “I don’t remember anything.”
During his trial he said, “I did crazy things… I had woken up in the streets in Vietnam. I presume the bar people had thrown me out… The list goes on.”
He said he remembered that they had sex, but what he remembered next was that he woke up in prison. “I recall people handcuffing me… I didn’t know where I was. Someone told me I was in Police Cantonment Complex.”
Principal District Judge Toh Han Li rejected the claim that he was under an alcoholic blackout as the alcohol level in Dr Teo’s blood was only between 165 to 225mg/dl at 4:12 am on the day of the assault, which is lower than the threshold of 250 mg/dl, which carries a higher possibility of an alcoholic blackout and 300mg/dl, where a person is rendered unconscious or in a stupor.
The judge also pointed out that since the accused was a regular drinker, he had a higher tolerance level for it.
Additionally, Dr Teo’s father, as well as one of the policemen present after the incident, said that he did not seem to be drunk.
Judge Toh added, ”I find that the accused’s ability to recall more and more events over time rather contrived, such that by the time of the trial, it was effectively only the memory of the assault which was subject to the alcoholic blackout.
I also find that the targeted injuries on the victim’s face point towards the accused’s sufficient cognitive ability to aim his assault at a specific area.”
Ms Lim testified that Dr Teo had specifically attacker her face since he had told her prior to the assault, “Oh, you think you’re very pretty is it? You’re … not pretty okay?
Dr Teo will return for sentencing on April 17.
For the charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt, he can receive a 10-year prison sentence, be made to pay a fine, or be caned. —/TISG
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