Doctor found guilty of assaulting girlfriend after she refused to have sex with him
A doctor who assaulted his girlfriend, causing multiple facial fractures, was found guilty yesterday.
A district court had earlier heard that Clarence Teo Shun Jie attacked Ms Rachel Lim En Hui, 27, at his Redhill flat between 2am and 4.12am on Aug 27, 2017, when she expressed reluctance to have sex with him.
Teo also prevented her from leaving that morning. The couple are no longer together.
An online search revealed he is still a medical practitioner.
Teo had told the court during the trial that he worked as a locum - or stand-in doctor - at clinics.
Following a trial, District Judge Toh Han Li found Teo, 35, guilty of one count each of causing grievous hurt to Ms Lim and wrongfully confining her.
During the trial, Ms Lim, who worked in the communications industry, testified that she went out with Teo for a night of merrymaking on Aug 26, 2017, and returned to his home in the wee hours of the next day.
The court heard he "became enraged and turned aggressive" when she expressed reluctance to have sexual intercourse with him.
When she tried to leave his bedroom to escape from him, he pursued her, forced her back into the room and locked the door. He then assaulted her.
Ms Lim had earlier said: "I was screaming at the top of my voice."
Teo's father, who lived in the flat, alerted the police at 4.12am.
Officers arrested Teo. Ms Lim was taken to the Singapore General Hospital where she was warded for 21 days.
Teo had earlier testified he had a drinking problem which led him to perform "inexplicable things that were quite shameful and embarrassing".
He also said his "next memory" after the incident was waking up in a cell.
He told Judge Toh: "I recall people handcuffing me... I didn't know where I was. Someone told me I was in Police Cantonment Complex."
'CONTRIVED'
Defence lawyer Tan Hee Joek said his client suffered an alcoholic blackout that day and did not intend to commit the offences.
Judge Toh felt otherwise and said that before assaulting Ms Lim, Teo could perform acts such as driving a car and locking the door.
The judge added: "I find that the accused's ability to recall more and more events over time rather contrived, such that by the time of the trial, it was effectively only the memory of the assault which was subject to the alcoholic blackout."
Teo is out on bail of $15,000 and will be sentenced on April 17.
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