An Indian-origin man was today jailed for over an year threatening to kill his wife even if he has to go to prison for the crime.
Ramachandran Maniam, 48, will be spending more than one year and two months behind bars, after admitting to criminal intimidation by threatening to harm his estranged wife, reported The Straits Times.
As he had committed the offence in breach of his remission order for an earlier conviction, he was sentenced today to an enhanced punishment of 372 days in jail on top of two months' jail for criminal intimidation.
Ramachandran was placed on the mandatory aftercare scheme from October 16-27 last year. He was housed at halfway house under the scheme for inmates released under the conditional remission system and deemed to be at higher risk of recidivism.
The court heard that on October 19, Ramachandran went to look for his wife. He called out to his son, 21, in a garden near a public housing estate apartment block, and said he wanted to speak to his wife.
When told that she was at work, he insisted on speaking to her and uttered: "I am going to beat your mother one good one and if I will go prison, I don't mind".
In a separate incident on October 28, Ramachandran was given time off to go out of the halfway house but had to return by 10.00 pm. But he stayed away for more than 24 hours and returned only at 1.25am on October 30.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Selene Yap said that by failing to remain indoors as required for an accumulative period of more than 24 hours, he had committed a serious breach of his mandatory aftercare conditions.
Saying that Ramachandran was "totally incorrigible", Community Court Judge Eddy Tham said it was really disturbing that the moment he came out from prison, he started terrorising his family members.
Ramachandran added that his divorce is ongoing and he wanted to spend time with his ailing 75-year-old father.
