A cleaner who was released last July after a one-third remission of his sentence for drug abuse has been sent back to prison.
Yusli Ismail, who was sentenced to 14 months' jail in December 2016, was not to re-offend from July 12 to Nov 30 last year, as part of his remission order.
But he breached this condition, continuing to be a drug abuser every day from last July. He also slashed his former girlfriend's face with a penknife two months later, causing permanent disfiguration.
Yesterday, Yusli, 42, was sentenced to a jail term of four years and nine months, and six strokes of the cane after pleading guilty the day before to one count each of drug consumption, failing to report for urine tests and causing grievous hurt to the woman with a weapon.
He will also spend an additional 109 days behind bars, which is the remainder of his earlier sentence, for breaching the conditions of the remission order.
District Judge Marvin Bay ordered Yusli to compensate his former girlfriend, dishwasher Norhayati Mohd Abas, the cost of her medical bills, which amounted to $1,226. The court heard that the 26-year-old woman is homeless.
Judge Bay said: "The victim is also a person of very limited means and is unlikely to have the wherewithal or gumption to take the step of taking civil proceedings for recovery." Yusli has to spend another additional week in jail if he is unable to pay.
The drug user was arrested at Toa Payoh Bus Interchange on Aug 25 last year for failing to report for urine tests and was released on bail six days later. Ms Norhayati bumped into him on Sept 9 in Geylang Road and accused him of stealing her money. During the argument, Yusli became agitated, slapped the woman and used a penknife to slash the victim twice on her face and once on her back before fleeing.
The court heard that each facial wound was about 9cm long while the one on her back measured 18cm.
Ms Norhayati now needs continuing care and may require scar therapy in the form of topical applications, steroid injections, laser treatment or scar revision in future.
Police arrested Yusli in Lorong 8 Geylang the day after the slashing.
