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Woman jailed six weeks for hitting man's head with beer bottle

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A Vietnamese woman who used a beer bottle to hit a man twice in the head was jailed for six weeks on Friday (Aug 25).

Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen, 32, pleaded guilty to causing hurt to Mr Toh Boon Eng, 53, at a coffee shop in Tyrwhitt Road near Jalan Besar on Aug 24, 2016.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Esther Tang said that Yen was drinking beer with her boyfriend Lim Keng Yeow, 37, and his friend, Mr Tan Qi Xiang, 29, at Broadway Food Court at about 2am that day.

Mr Toh, his wife and her friend were also at the coffee shop.

The victim was having a verbal dispute with his wife over family matters.

Some time before 4.30am, Mr Tan walked over to the victim and asked him to lower his voice as he felt that the victim was talking loudly.

A few minutes later, Mr Tan still felt that the victim was talking loudly, and approached the victim with Mr Lim.

Both men punched the victim in the face. Mr Toh tried to use his hands to block them.

Yen took a Tiger Beer bottle from her table and struck the victim's head twice with it. The bottle dropped and broke.

The three men grabbed one another and fell to the floor.

After a few minutes, the scuffle stopped when the victim's wife kept shouting that the victim was her husband.

Mr Toh got up and returned to his table, bleeding. He felt pain and giddiness after being hit with the beer bottle.

Police came and arrested Yen.

Mr Toh suffered cuts on his scalp and right forearm, and had injuries near his left eye. He was given hospitalisation leave until Aug 26.

Highlighting aggravating factors, DPP Tang said Yen had resorted to using a dangerous weapon to attack the victim's vulnerable part of the body.

The DPP added that it was a group attack, and that there was no need for Yen to join inwith a beer bottle.

"It is also fortuitous that only relatively minor injuries were caused in the present case," she said.

Yen's lawyer Tan Chao Yuan said his client, a single mother, was deeply remorseful.

He said she had offered compensation to the victim but it was rejected.

The maximum punishment for causing hurt is two years' jail and a $5,000 fine.

Both Mr Lim and Mr Tan were given 12-month conditional warnings.

COURT & CRIMEjailcausing hurt