Ex-SAF regular held knife to wife’s neck for using ‘sugar daddy’ app, assaulted stepson with ADHD
A former Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) regular has been convicted of assaulting his stepson and holding a knife to his wife’s neck after discovering she was on a sugar dating platform.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the 35-year-old faced charges including voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation. A gag order has been imposed to protect the identities of the victims.
The accused married his 35-year-old wife in 2022, and the couple have four children, two of whom are from the woman’s previous marriage.
The man was a regular with the SAF but left in 2024.
Pointed knife at wife’s neck
Court documents state that on Jan 18, 2025, the accused’s stepdaughter, then 12, accidentally opened her mother’s email account while using her phone.
He discovered that his wife had signed up for Sugarbook, a platform described as offering “luxury dating” arrangements for those “looking for meaningful companionship”.
She had arranged to meet a man at a hotel the following week.
Later that day, he confronted his wife in the bedroom while she was napping, in the presence of their children. An argument broke out after he told them about her actions, which angered her as she felt he should not have involved the children in the matter.
After leaving the room, he received a message from his wife stating that if he was unable to provide for the family, she would “take money back home using [her] way”.
He did not have a stable source of income at the time and interpreted this as her engaging in sex work to earn extra money.
When the woman later went to the living room to smoke, she angered the accused after taking his cigarette, the court heard.
He pushed her and dragged her along the floor from the living room to the kitchen, causing her spectacles to fall off.
He then grabbed a knife with a 19cm blade and held it to her neck while gripping her shirt.
He said he had already warned her that “if he was pissed off, he would do anything to her”, and asked if she “really wanted to see him go crazy”.
During the incident, the couple’s stepson witnessed his mother on the floor and texted his friend to call the police. He also contacted his school counsellor.
The authorities were alerted after the friend’s aunt and the counsellor called the police, and the accused was arrested shortly after.
Stepson with ADHD assaulted in earlier case
The accused was also charged over a separate incident in October 2022 involving his stepson, who was then 11 and had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Court documents state that he had earlier been aware the boy had scolded his younger siblings and used physical force against his younger brother.
On Oct 26, 2022, the accused became upset after being informed by the school that the boy had again used physical force on his brother.
In the early hours of Oct 27, he returned home and discovered leftover food in the messy living room. Believing it was his stepson’s fault, the man woke him up and slapped him twice on the right side of his face.
The boy was later taken to hospital after school staff noticed bruises on his face in the morning. Medical reports stated that he sustained injuries to his right eye, ear, and cheek.
He was hospitalised for three weeks as part of investigations and later placed in a children’s home.
He was subsequently granted home leave and would return home on weekends.
Accused felt betrayed by wife’s actions: lawyer
During a hearing on March 31, the accused’s lawyer said he felt betrayed by his wife’s actions and reacted after she ignored his requests not to go ahead.
The lawyer added that he had left his SAF job to care for the children as his wife was unable to do so. He planned to seek employment alongside taking on childcare duties, but was unable to find a new job.
Prosecutors argued that the assault on the stepson was aggravated by the fact that their relationship was supposed to be built on trust and authority. The boy’s vulnerability was further compounded by his ADHD and behavioural issues.
Given that he has pleaded guilty, the prosecution is seeking a total sentence of 22 to 26 weeks’ imprisonment, comprising 12 to 14 weeks for voluntarily causing hurt and 10 to 12 weeks for criminal intimidation, with both sentences to run consecutively.
Sentencing has been adjourned to April 15.
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