SINGAPORE - A man slashed his former girlfriend on the face and hands as he was angry at her for ending their relationship, a district court heard on Monday (April 3).

Mohd Husien Maudu, 48, was sentenced to four years in jail and six strokes of the cane.

He had initially wanted to confront Ms Rama Subramaniam Rajalakshmi's boyfriend, named Raj. On Dec 19 last year (2016), he waited near her provision store in Yishun with a penknife he had bought.

Before walking to the 41-year-old woman's provision shop in Yishun Street 81, Mohd Husien drank beer.

But there was no sign of Raj. Instead, he saw the victim and her 46-year-old female employee walking out of the shop at about 9.50pm, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Sheryl Yeo.

He followed the two women and then decided to confront the victim as he was still angry. They had been in a relationship and had known each other for years before breaking up around May last year.

The DPP said Mohd Husien argued with the victim at the void deck of Block 841 Yishun Street 81, and told her employee to leave but she remained beside the victim.

When the victim refused to talk to Mohd Husien and started scolding him, he grabbed her left wrist. She slapped him once on the face.

Angered, he took out the penknife from his sling bag and swung it at her face repeatedly in a left to right motion.

As a result, she suffered injuries to her face as well as her left forearm which she had used to shield her face.

A woman passer-by, who saw the attack and heard the two women scream, called the police an helped control the bleeding on the victim's face.

After the assault, Mohd Husien ran and threw the penknife away at a rubbish bin. He took a taxi back to Woodlands to buy beer before heading home. He was arrested the next day.

The victim suffered cuts on her left cheek, ear and forehead. She had permanent disfiguration on the left side of her face and was warded for five days and given 44 days of medical leave.

Mohd Husien, whose sentence was backdated to Dec 22, could have been jailed for up to 15 years and liable to fine or to caning for causing grievous hurt with a penknife.

Correction note: An earlier version of the story omitted the fact that Mohd Husien Maudu was also sentenced to six strokes of the cane.