SINGAPORE - A 57-year-old man was jailed for four months on Monday (July 10) after hurting his girlfriend's scalp and right hand with a knife in a fight.

K. Regu Arekrishnan, who pleaded guilty to hurting Ms Roselyn Kan Ah Hiok, 54, with the weapon, committed the offence in his Toa Payoh flat at around 1.45am on April 4.

The couple were on their way to his home in a taxi earlier that morning after visiting his sister when they got into a quarrel.

The court heard Regu had insulted Ms Kan for being jobless and unable to buy her own property.

Their war of words continued when they reached his flat and it escalated into a fight after she flung a bottle of perfume at him.

It missed Regu, who then took a butter knife with a 7cm-long blade from a dining table.

He aimed the knife at Ms Kan's face and eye area and when she dodged the weapon, he ended up wounding her scalp, leaving a 3cm-long cut.

A struggle ensued and she grabbed the blade with her right hand.

It sliced her hand and left a deep wound when he wrenched the knife away.

Bleeding from her injuries, she ran out of the flat and fled downstairs.

The taxi the couple had earlier taken was still there.

She boarded it and asked the driver to alert the police.

She also asked the cabby to drive her back to Regu's sister's flat in Ang Mo Kio.

Police officers who turned up at Regu's home found that it was in total darkness.

They later arrested him at around 12.45pm that day after they found him at a coffee shop at Block 69, Lorong 4 Toa Payoh.

Ms Kan went to Tan Tock Seng Hospital and had to undergo emergency surgery on April 4 to close the wound on her right hand.

She was discharged the next day and was given medical leave until April 19.

For causing hurt with the knife, Regu could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined.

He cannot be caned as he is above 50 years old.