SINGAPORE, Nov 18 — A man who drove for 200m while his girlfriend held onto the car door handle and ran alongside the vehicle was yesterday sentenced to three weeks’ jail.
The incident occurred after Goo Swee Heng realised that his girlfriend had apparently cheated on him again, with several men this time, and began driving off in a car with her mobile phone.
His girlfriend, Geraldine Kock, fell during the chase and suffered several abrasions.
Goo, 45, had earlier pleaded guilty last Friday to causing hurt to Kock by a rash act.In sentencing yesterday, District Judge Christopher Goh said: “It was quite a dangerous act... it was fortuitous that the injuries suffered were not more serious.”
Another charge of stealing Kock’s phone was taken into consideration during sentencing.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Lim sought five to six weeks’ jail for Goo.
He noted that the act was unprovoked and deliberated.Goo, he said, had accelerated while Kock was still clinging onto the door handle.
He added that Goo did not get out of the car even after Kock fell.
Goo’s lawyer Ashwin Ganapathy asked for a high fine instead. The lawyer from IRB Law had last week urged the court to consider the circumstances and noted that Kock’s injuries were “not that serious”.
For causing hurt by a rash act, Goo could have been jailed up to a year or fined up to S$5,000, or both.
About the case
Goo and Kock began dating in 2016. However, things deteriorated in early 2017 when he caught her cheating on him.
She confessed and said she would not do it again, but started avoiding Goo in 2018.
In November that year, Goo suggested that they break up but she asked him not to end the relationship.
On December 14, 2018, Goo drove to her housing estate in Ang Mo Kio, intending to confront her about her behaviour.
Kock claimed that they were no longer together at the time.
When she refused to show Goo her phone messages, he took the phone from her in a “fit of rage and hurt” and went through her messages, Ashwin said.
He came across numerous chat threads between her and various unknown men, in which she made arrangements to meet them for sex.
He also found out that she had created various email accounts “for the purposes of cheating on him”, the lawyer said.
The messages dated back to August 2017 when Kock first said that she would stop cheating on him.
Goo then ran back to his rented car, a Toyota Vios, with her mobile phone, intending to take photographs of the messages.
The court heard that she gave chase but could not catch Goo. She grabbed the handle of the front left passenger door but could not open it.
Goo began driving off while she held on, but she finally lost her grip when he accelerated.
He drove off just as another vehicle stopped near her. She was already on the ground.
Kock sought medical treatment later that day and was given one day of medical leave after sustaining abrasions on her knee.
Goo returned her mobile phone the next day. — TODAY
