When a man saw his girlfriend and her male friend sitting together at a corridor, he punched the man on the face, causing him to fall into a drain.

The punch left the man with a fractured left eye socket.

On Tuesday (27 November), Joshua Chow Yi Fa, a 24-year-old Singaporean, was jailed six months for voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Ng Keng Fai, 25.

Chow will also have to serve an additional 13 days as he committed the current offence while serving a remission order for his previous offences, which included harassment as an unlicensed moneylender and criminal breach of trust.

Chow told the court that he knew he was in the wrong and had apologised to Ng when he was in hospital. He has since patched up his relationship with his girlfriend, Ng Lee Hong, 25, who is now his fiancee.

Chow’s girlfriend had called Ng over to her flat in Woodlands on 11 May as she was not feeling well. When Ng arrived, he joined the girlfriend along the ledge of a covered walkway and the two started talking.

Chow arrived five minutes later and saw the pair sitting together. He confronted Ng and punched Ng’s face. After Ng fell backwards into the drain, Chow continued punching and kicking him.

Ng managed to climbed out of the drain and rolled into a nearby bush, but Chow continued hitting him.

After Chow ceased his attacks, he handed Ng a few $50 notes as compensation. However, Ng said it was not enough and that his spectacles were missing. Chow found Ng’s spectacles for him and compensated him further. In total, Chow gave Ng $250 as compensation.

Chow left and shortly after, police officers arrived in response to a call from a member of the public.

Ng sustained bruises, a red eye, a laceration, abrasion and fractures on his left eye socket. He was given nine days’ medical leave.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Quek Jinfeng sought at least seven months’ jail for Chow, saying that there was a high level of violence involved and that he persisted in assaulting Ng even after he fell. The DPP said that Chow aimed at the vulnerable parts of Ng’s body.

For voluntarily causing grievous hurt, Chow could have been jailed up to seven years, and fined or caned.