Friday 6 March 2009

Wife slasher tells CJ: My spouse drove me nuts

A former investment analyst poured out his grievances before the Chief Justice yesterday during his appeal against the four years in jail and eight strokes of the cane he got for slashing and stabbing his wife.

1 comment:

Guanyu said...

Wife slasher tells CJ: My spouse drove me nuts

By Selina Lum
6 March 2009

A former investment analyst poured out his grievances before the Chief Justice yesterday during his appeal against the four years in jail and eight strokes of the cane he got for slashing and stabbing his wife.

Russell Tan Rui Leen, 39, spoke for more than half an hour, painting a picture of his wife as an abusive woman with a rage problem who persistently taunted him until he ‘went nuts’.

After hearing him and the prosecutor, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong called it ‘a very unusual case of marital discord’. He adjourned his decision, saying he had to take another look at the records because Tan seemed to have said many things that were not on record.

The hearing began with Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Jwee Nguan giving an account of the Sept 30, 2007 attack on Ms. Jann Goh Hwee Suan, 35.

Tan grabbed a knife from the kitchen to slash at her. When it became bent, he used a bigger knife and continued his attack. He did not stop even when a neighbour came by to check on the commotion.

The DPP said Ms. Goh spent 18 days in hospital - six in intensive care - and now has 80 scars.

CJ Chan then asked DPP Lee why he was not appealing against the sentence, to which the prosecutor replied that the prosecution had borne in mind that Tan was diagnosed with reactive stress disorder. It was then that Tan stood up to say his piece, prefacing his speech by saying that ‘no matter what she did, I should not have done what I did’.

Tan claimed a psychiatrist diagnosed his wife as having a rage problem, and that, as the ‘stable’ one, he was told to give in and tolerate her. He claimed she had assaulted five of their maids, and that he had secured a personal protection order against her.

The day before the attack, she made fun of the size of his genitals in front of their then five-year-old son. She also called him a homosexual and accused him of molesting the maid.

On the fateful day, he asked her to tell their two children that what she said was untrue, but she repeated the taunts. Asked by CJ Chan if this was true, DPP Lee confirmed she taunted him verbally.

CJ Chan asked Tan why he reacted so violently. Tan said he ‘blanked out’ and was stressed out from living with her. He was also paranoid about their older son’s suicidal tendencies. He said he did not intend for this to happen - he had a good job, a beautiful family and was debt-free. Now, she wants a divorce and custody of the children and has sued him for $136,000 in damages.

He said: ‘I’m completely destroyed - every part of my life is destroyed.’