SINGAPORE - He wanted to wash up before prayers, but a nursing home resident was upset that the toilet was occupied.

Mohd Shariffudin bin A Hamid opened the door and shouted at the wheelchair-bound occupant, and later hit him on the back of the neck.

It was his second attack on a fellow resident in six days and Shariffudin, 70, was sentenced to four weeks' jail on Wednesday (Dec 15).

He had pleaded guilty to two offences of voluntarily causing hurt to a vulnerable person.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Norine Tan told the court that Shariffudin has been a resident in Thye Hua Kwan Nursing Home in Hougang since 2019.

On Dec 29 last year, the wheelchair-bound resident was washing his face and brushing his teeth in the toilet at about 1.50pm. The 82-year-old man felt scared after Shariffudin shouted at him.

DPP Tan: "A few staff of the home was alerted by the commotion and came to the toilet area to stop the accused from being aggressive."

Shariffudin opened the toilet door to scold the victim again and hit him once, before being restrained by the staff.

Six days earlier, Shariffudin had approached a 79-year-old male resident, who suffers from dementia, and scolded him before slapping him twice on his face.

The victim had bruises around his left eye and redness in the same eye.

He was taken to Sengkang General Hospital. He was transferred to Changi General Hospital the next day for further review and was warded for two days before he was discharged.

While being investigated for the two offences, which were captured on surveillance camera, Shariffudin became violent again.

DPP Tan said: "He approached a healthcare assistant of the home to ask him to switch off the lights in the corridor. When the healthcare assistant told the accused that they could not do so, the accused argued with him and challenged him to a fight before suddenly slapping the healthcare assistant once on his left cheek."

A charge related to this incident was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Shariffudin was referred to the Institute of Mental Health but was not diagnosed with any underlying mental illness.

DPP Tan called for a four- to five-week jail sentence.

During sentencing, District Judge Kessler Soh told Shariffudin that when he returns to the home and if he were to be not happy about anything, he should speak to the staff instead of beating others.

His sentence was backdated to Nov 30, the date of his remand.

For each count of voluntarily causing hurt, offenders can be jailed for three years, fined $5,000, or both. The maximum sentence can be doubled for crimes against vulnerable victims.