SINGAPORE - An IT support officer disguised himself as a woman when he strangled a 27-year-old woman with a rope outside her unit in the wee hours of the morning.

Lu Choon Sien, 33, was jailed for eight months on Thursday for causing hurt to the victim along the corridor of an HDB block on Nov 7 last year. He also admitted to having 142 obscene films in his laptop.

The victim, who cannot be named because of a gag order, had returned home at about 3am that day when she noticed Lu, who was dressed in a grey coloured jacket and wearing a wig and holding a handbag. Despite Lu's presence, the victim continued to open her unit. Lu then approached her and took out a black rope from the handbag and used it to strangle the victim's neck. The victim struggled and screamed for her husband. Lu fled.

The husband rushed to the main door and found the victim lying on the corridor. He found a mobile phone which Lu had dropped. He then called the police. Lu, who made the call saying he had lost his phone, was arrested when he turned up to get his phone back from the husband at the void deck.

Lu, the court heard, suffers from fetishistic transvestism, sadomasochism and schizoid personality disorder. He is seeking treatment for his psychiatric condition, said his lawyer.

He could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, caned or received any combined sentence for the offence.