SINGAPORE, July 23 — Upset that his ex-wife would not give him money, a man attacked her with a pair of scissors that slashed her back.

Yesterday, Mohamed Nor Bacheekantakattu Mamoothy, 58, was sentenced to 12 months behind bars after he pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to his 55-year-old ex-wife and stealing from her. He also pleaded guilty to two charges of criminal intimidation, including one involving a security guard at a hospital.

Six other similar charges, which include fraudulent possession of property and using abusive language against a public servant, were taken into consideration for his sentencing, which has been backdated to the day of his remand on November 23 last year.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kwang Jia Min said that the attack happened on October 18 last year at the home of Nor’s ex-wife, who was living alone but would sometimes allow Nor to stay over "out of pity”.

That afternoon, she allowed Nor to enter because he wanted to retrieve some of his belongings, but he soon started arguing with her over past police reports that she had made against him. Court documents did not state what these reports were about.

Aside from squabbling with his ex-wife, Nor accused her of stealing his money, a charge she denied.

Ignoring what she said, he insisted that she hand over S$600 (about RM1,800), a demand the woman did not entertain because she had to leave for work.

When she told Nor to leave, he retrieved a pair of scissors from the kitchen, pointed it at her and said: "You want see I poke you or not?”

Nor then attacked her with the scissors, which left a 5cm-long laceration on her back. The woman did not seek medical treatment for the injury.

Eventually, Nor left when she told him that she had called her nephew and that her sister was heading over to her place.

Earlier on April 2 last year, Nor had stolen his ex-wife’s ATM card, which he used to withdraw S$350.

Threatened auxiliary police officer with scissors

In a separate incident that happened on the evening of July 13 last year, Nor used a pair of scissors to threaten an auxiliary police officer at Sengkang General Hospital.

DPP Kwang said that Nor was admitted to the hospital earlier that day after sustaining a fall.

Around 7pm, he wanted to head down to level one of the hospital to buy a drink, but he was denied permission by the nurses on duty due to his health condition.

Nor paid no heed, left his ward and headed to the lift lobby. Three security officers were notified of this and they proceeded to stop him.

While they were trying to persuade him to return his ward, Nor retrieved from his pocket a bunch of keys, which hid a pair of scissors. 

Pointing the sharp end of the scissors at one of the security officers, Nor threatened to hurt him and warned him not to come closer or risk getting punched.

For voluntarily causing hurt to his ex-wife, Nor could have been jailed up to two years or fined up to S$5,000, or both. He could have also been jailed up to seven years or fined for stealing from her.

By criminally intimidating the security officer, he could have been jailed up to two years or fined, or both. For criminally intimidating his ex-wife by threatening to cause grievous hurt, he could have been jailed at least seven years. — TODAY