After his pregnant teenage sister went missing, Kenneth Lee Jun Hao attacked her boyfriend.
Pleading guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt with common intention, he has received a jail term of three months.
Another charge was taken into consideration at the time of sentencing.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports that the incident occurred on the night of 6 Sep 2020.
Lee, his parents, godbrother and sister’s friend were searching for his pregnant sister, who was missing. Their hunt led them to her boyfriend’s apartment.
They questioned him, but he refused to reveal where she was. One of them asked for his phone, so they could look for her, but discovered compromising photos of the girl on it.
They then asked the boyfriend about the pregnancy, but he refused to take responsibility. Infuriated by his behaviour, Lee’s godbrother began punching him. This caused him to fall to the floor.
Lee followed suit, and both men began punching and kicking his face, chest and ribs. The assault continued for more than 15 minutes.
In addition, Lee’s mother and friend slapped his face multiple times. Eventually, his father stepped in and stopped them from prolonging the attack.
According to CNA, the victim reached out to his probation officer and case worker, who contacted the police. Authorities conveyed him to the hospital, where he had a fractured rib, several bruises and a swollen cheek and jaw.
Back in May, Lee’s godbrother had received a sentencing of five months’ jail, with an enhancement of 120 days’ prison.
The prosecutor asked for a similar jail term of four to five months for Lee, citing the length of time the assault took place and the victim being outnumbered as justification.
However, Lee’s lawyer, Tang Gee Ni, asked for a shorter jail term. At the time of the assault, he was only 21 and had a background of mental issues, none of which is linked to the offence.
On the day of the assault, the search for the missing girl was taking a toll on the family, who was worried she might do “silly things to herself”.
Things then got out of hand, Mr Tang said, when the victim was rude to Lee’s parents and had compromising photos on his phone.
“When confronted with the photos, he admitted he sent them out to his friends, although he promised to call them to delete the photos,” he added. Lee’s sister was also only 17 when she became pregnant, worsening the situation.
Her child is now 19 months old. In light of this, Mr Tang urged the judge to exercise compassion.
“He very much regrets what he has done,” he said. CNA reports that authorities have dealt with the other individuals involved in perpetrating the attack separately.
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