A GLUE sniffer who got himself admitted to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) to kick his addiction has ended up in prison.

Lin Zhiwen, 26, was jailed for three months on Tuesday for attacking male staff nurse Goh Kian Meng, 35 on May 23.

A district court heard that Lin's mother visited him in his ward that evening

They had an argument and Mr Goh advised the mother to leave.

As he was walking her out of the ward, Lin punched Mr Goh several times on the back of his head.

A scuffle broke out. A colleague came to Lin's help and managed to subdue Lin. Police were called in.

Lin also admitted to hitting the head of another nurse on Jan 9 with a chair and this charge was considered by District Judge Roy Neighbour in sentencing.

The unemployed man, who has previous offences for theft and drug abuse, could have been jailed for up to two years and fined up to $5,000.

The judge told Lin that the court would send his psychiatric report to the prison authorities to arrange for treatment for his anti-social personality disorder.

Pleading for a short jail term, Lin's lawyer Manoj Nandwani said that Lin also suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, which manifested in frequent washing of hands and extremely long showers, including one that lasted a full nine hours.

He added that Lin was truly remorseful and the attack was not premeditated.

Assaults on nurses are committed in the heat of the moment, said Ms Penny Seet, the president of the Singapore Nurses Association (correct).

In 2005, Changi General Hospital (CGH) reported 13 cases of verbal and physical abuse. This dipped to nine cases in 2006 and to 10 last year. So far this year nine cases were reported.

Alexandra Hospital had no more than eight cases a year.

Over at the National University Hospital (NUH), there were 25 cases of physical aggression last year, and 12 this year.