Jail for man who assaulted wife, harassed daughter and splashed hot water at two cops

SINGAPORE - While out on a personal bond after assaulting his wife, an elderly man harassed his daughter and splashed hot water at two police officers who responded to his daughter’s call for help.

The 74-year-old man was sentenced to two years, two months and two weeks’ jail on May 28. He cannot be named to protect the identities of his wife and their two daughters.

He had pleaded guilty to one count each of voluntarily causing hurt to a policeman and assaulting his wife. The offender also pleaded guilty to breaching a personal protection order (PPO) against him.

Six other charges were considered during his sentencing.

Under the PPO, he was not supposed to use violence against his 60-year-old wife and their two daughters.

Without revealing details, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Jun Ya said that the wife was granted the PPO in 2003.

In January 2024, the man hit his wife on the face, causing injuries including a facial fracture, when she tried to intervene during a tiff between him and one of their daughters. He was in a rage because the daughter, identified in court documents as A2, had asked him where some items, including a saw, were being kept.

The daughter alerted the police and an ambulance took her mother to hospital. The man was arrested on Jan 18, 2024, and was released on a personal bond the next day.

In June 2025, he harassed A2 after barging into her shop to look for his wife, who was not there.

The man told his daughter to “go and die”, and threatened to “smash” her husband’s head.

A2 called for police assistance and the offender went home after officers told him to leave.

When his wife returned home more than five hours later, he berated her. He also pushed her, forced her out of their home and locked the front door. She then called A2, who helped her mother to call for police assistance.

Police officers arrived at the scene later that evening, but the man refused to open the door.

DPP Tan said: “The accused had recently boiled water in a kettle and poured out the hot water into a metal pot.

“He then placed both the kettle and the metal pot near the front door for the purpose of splashing the hot water on the police officers in the event they entered the flat.”

When the authorities eventually entered the flat, the offender picked up the pot and splashed its contents at two police officers – a station inspector and a sergeant 2. A third officer came forward, and the elderly man was handcuffed soon after.

The incident left the sergeant 2 with some redness on the right thigh that did not require medical attention. The station inspector was taken to the National University Hospital, where he was found with partial thickness burns to his thighs, left wrist and left ankle.

The offender was charged in court on June 24, 2025, and has been in remand since.