Singapore — A 50-year-old woman was sentenced to four years in jail on Thursday (Nov 26) for pouring boiling water on her boyfriend’s pants over the groin area because she suspected he was cheating on her.
The court heard that Zareena Begum became the man’s girlfriend in 2006. He was already married but eventually got divorced. The pair carried on an affair for the next 11 years and the man promised to marry her.
In 2015, however, Zareena started suspecting the man of cheating on her after spotting him with another woman. Her doubts kept festering and appeared to get confirmed when she read messages from the other woman on the man’s phone in July 2017, while he was sleeping at her house.
The prosecution said Zareena was enraged and “wanted to teach him a lesson that he would never forget”. She boiled a mug of hot water and poured in on his pants over the groin area while he was asleep.
The victim, who said it was the worst pain he had suffered in his life, claimed that Zareena told him “serve you right” and that he should get his “new girlfriend to get the aloe vera” for him.
The man suffered second- and third-degree burns over 12 per cent of his body and underwent three operations, including skin grafts, over 26 days in hospital.
He told the court that the pain he suffered made him “want to die” and that the injuries will cause permanent scarring. He could not work for about six months and found that his confidence was hit by his scars.
The prosecution sought a minimum five-year jail term with an additional three months in lieu of caning since Zareena cannot be caned as she is a woman. The defence sought a two-year jail sentence.
District Judge Brenda Tan convicted her and sentenced her to four years in jail.
Zareena contested the charge and is set to appeal against the conviction. She argued that it was an accident and that the boiling water spilled onto the man from her mug when he pulled her arm.
Zareena could have been jailed for life or jailed for up to 15 years and fined for voluntarily causing grievous hurt by a heated substance.
She is out on S$30,000 bail pending appeal. /TISG