A staff nurse at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) who sprayed a patient's face with hand sanitiser three times and punched him twice in the face was jailed for nine weeks yesterday.

Muhammad Ihsan Mahmud, 32, whose alias is Abdul Rahman, pleaded guilty to one count each of voluntarily causing hurt and using criminal force on the vulnerable victim. A third charge of attempting to hurt the victim was taken into consideration.

On the morning of Dec 8, 2019, the Malaysian commenced his shift at the ward. At about 10.30am, a patient in his 50s splashed urine on a nurse, who told Muhammad Ihsan.

The accused then approached the patient and sprayed hand sanitiser into his face three times within six minutes.

The victim, a long-term patient with chronic schizophrenia, tried to shield his face and wiped the hand sanitiser off his face using his shorts.

Muhammad Ihsan also tried to hit the victim with his elbow, but the patient managed to dodge him.

The victim later created a disturbance in the lounge. The accused, along with two other colleagues, restrained him.

As they were doing so, the victim became agitated.

Muhammad Ihsan then punched him in the face twice and kicked him in the shin. The victim suffered bruising around his right eye and the accused reported the injuries to IMH management.

The patient was taken to Singapore General Hospital, where he was found to have also suffered bruising and a fracture on a toe.

A human resource manager at IMH made a police report five days later, stating that the accused and his two colleagues who helped restrain the victim had physically assaulted the patient.

Muhammad Ihsan's services as an IMH employee were terminated on Jan 9 last year.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Phoebe Tan urged the court to jail the accused for 10 weeks, saying he abused the trust placed in him.

Speaking through an interpreter, Muhammad Ihsan asked for leniency, saying he has family in Johor Baru depending on him.

District Judge Teo Guan Kee said that nothing in his mitigation justified a reduction in the sentence asked for by the prosecution. But he said he would take into account the accused reporting the injuries.

An IMH spokesman told The Straits Times: "Two other staff were also investigated in relation to this incident... (they) are no longer employed by IMH.

"IMH has apologised to the patient and his family... The patient... is still being cared for in our hospital for his mental health condition."

For voluntarily causing hurt to a vulnerable victim, Muhammad Ihsan could have been jailed for up to six years, fined up to $10,000, or both.