SINGAPORE: Suspecting that his wife was cheating on him, a flight steward punched, slapped and kicked her in front of their children, ignoring her pleas to stop.

Johannan Johari, 36, pleaded guilty on Monday (Mar 9) to one count of voluntarily causing hurt.



The court heard that Johannan lived with his 35-year-old wife and their two children, who were both under the age of nine.

On the evening of Jun 15 last year, Johannan asked his wife to lend him her laptop, saying he needed it for work.

He took the laptop and went to a room with their two children, where he watched footage from his wife's in-car cameras.

When his wife went to the room to check on their kids, Johannan confronted her and accused her of having an extramarital affair.



The victim denied this repeatedly. Johannan headed to the kitchen to retrieve his wife's phone, and his wife and their children trailed behind him.

On the way, Johannan punched his wife in the face. She asked him why he had to see her phone, and he slapped her repeatedly on the face, causing her to hit her head against the kitchen counter.

She fell to the ground, bleeding from her forehead, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Jotham Tay.

As she was sprawled on the ground, Johannan checked her phone while kicking her in her left ribs. She begged him to stop as she was in great pain.

The victim started to lose consciousness, and her husband noticed this. He dragged her by her shirt to the bathroom, but his wife was in such pain from the kicks to her ribs that she could not sit up properly.

As she lay on the floor of the bathroom, Johannan used the shower head to spray water on her to keep her awake.

His wife choked from the water that entered her nose, and Johannan slapped her face to stop her from fainting, while pressing a towel against her forehead to stop the bleeding.

CONFESSED TO BROTHER-IN-LAW



When he realised that his wife could not stand up, he carried her to a bed and called his wife's brother, confessing to what he had done.



He apologised and asked his wife's brother to come over quickly. At this point, his wife fainted.

The victim's brother went over and called for an ambulance, which took the victim to the hospital.

Medical reports listed various injuries she suffered, including a fracture on the tip of her nose, a deep laceration over her eyebrow and an accumulation of blood under her scalp.

She underwent surgery and was warded for about a week.

The judge called for a report assessing Johannan's suitability for a day reporting order.

He granted Johannan's application to leave the country for work on various dates, to Australia, Britain, America and China, with various conditions.

Johannan will return to court for sentencing on Apr 6. For voluntarily causing hurt, he can be jailed for up to two years, fined a maximum S$5,000, or both.