30-5-2023 (SINGAPORE) A woman was handed an eight-month jail sentence on Tuesday (May 30) for splashing hot water on her husband, who had expressed his desire to divorce her. The attack resulted in the man suffering second-degree burns and blistering.
Rahimah Nisva, a 29-year-old Indonesian national, pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt by hot water.
The court heard that Rahimah and her 24-year-old Malaysian husband, who resides in Singapore, got married in 2019. They registered their marriage in Batam, Indonesia, where Rahimah lived, and welcomed a daughter together in January 2023.
Their marital relationship started deteriorating in December 2022, as the husband felt Rahimah was overly possessive. In March 2023, while the husband was in Batam with his wife, he broached the topic of divorce. Rahimah did not display any signs of unhappiness upon hearing this, and the husband returned to Singapore the following day.
However, a few days later, on March 22, Rahimah traveled from Batam to Singapore with a female colleague. She had invited her colleague on what she claimed was a leisure trip, offering meals in return for her company. Once they arrived in Singapore, Rahimah informed her colleague that she needed to meet her husband to obtain some documents.
Wearing a black dress and a headgear that concealed all but her eyes, Rahimah went to her husband’s home to scout the area before returning to meet her colleague. Early the next morning, Rahimah filled a thermoflask with boiling water and expressed her intention to meet her husband before their return to Batam.
Dressed in a similar disguise as the previous day, Rahimah waited at a staircase two flats away from her husband’s home. When he was putting on his shoes outside the flat, she ran towards him and splashed the boiling water from her flask onto his back. The man, in severe pain, shouted and attempted to remove his shirt while Rahimah fled the scene. The man’s family members promptly filed a police report.
Officers from the Police Coast Guard intercepted the ferry Rahimah and her colleague were on while en route to Batam, subsequently arresting Rahimah.
The victim was rushed to the hospital with second-degree scald injuries, experiencing blistering and skin loss over his upper back, neck, and part of his right arm. He was granted 16 days of medical leave and scheduled follow-up appointments at the Plastics Outpatient Clinic at Singapore General Hospital.
During the court proceedings, the prosecutor requested a prison term of seven to nine months for Rahimah, highlighting the deliberate and premeditated nature of the offense. The prosecutor emphasized that Rahimah intentionally disguised herself and lay in wait outside the victim’s home before ambushing him. It was also revealed that she had visited the location the day before to familiarize herself with the area. The victim, tying his shoelaces at the time of the attack, was particularly vulnerable and unable to evade the scalding water.
Rahimah even attempted to flee after committing the offense. While it was not disclosed whether the couple has since divorced, Rahimah expressed her desire to reunite with her husband.
For voluntarily causing hurt by means of a heated substance, Rahimah could have faced a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment and a fine. However, as she is a woman, she is exempt from caning. Additionally, given that the offense was committed against someone she was in an intimate relationship with, the penalties could have been doubled.
