On Tuesday, December 18, a police officer with the Police Coast Guard was given a fine or S$2,000 after jabbing his now divorced wife in her private part with his finger, breaching a personal protection order that she had previously filed against him.
The 42-year-old police officer and his 39-year-old ex-wife, who will remain anonymous, were a problematic pair.
The now-divorced couple, who got married in 2004, were constantly arguing. Less than a year after their marriage, the wife requested a personal protection order against her husband, which was granted.
The personal protection order stated that the man was not to use any kind of violence against his wife.
A decade later, in 2015, the couple were unable to keep peace between them. They resumed their arguments and even picked up the pace, with the fights happening more and more regularly.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Lai, who requested the S$2,000 fine, reported that the couple, who remained together and were still living together despite their conflict, starting sleeping in separate rooms last year.
On October 23, 2017, the police officer’s wife filed for divorce for reasons that have not been revealed.
However, in the weeks that followed, the couple kept arguing. Less than two weeks after the woman had filed for divorce, they were at it again. This time they fought about the police officer’s sunglasses, which were missing, and about a letter from the Syariah Court about an appointment for marriage counselling.
The incident happened in their kids’ bedroom. While they were arguing, the man poked his wife in her private part hard with his finger, causing her pain. She told her husband to get out of the room, after which she called the police against him.
On December 18, the man was given a S$2,000 fine by District Judge May Mesenas after admitting to one count of breaching a personal protection order his wife had against him. He has also been interdicted from service at the Police Coast Guard.
Defence lawyer John Koh said that the man, who is paying maintenance fees for the couple’s three children, aged 12, 11 and six, is sorry for his “foolish actions”.
Koh, who said his client is a man of “limited means”, asked for “the least fine possible”.