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HIS wife had applied for a personal protection order (PPO) against him. But twice, he failed to turn up in court for the hearing.
On Monday, the former S-League footballer, who now works at a hotel, became a wanted man after a warrant of arrest was issued against him.
It is the latest twist in his wife's bid to get a PPO.
She was mysteriously slashed by two men on Dec 4 at about 4pm.
Ms Rita (not her real name), 30, a bank administrative executive, told The New Paper that she was just three blocks from her parents' Bedok HDB flat when she was attacked.
She fell to the ground and was slashed three times on her right arm.
Before her attackers left, one of them shouted at her in a mix of Malay and English: "You, withdraw your PPO.If not, the next target is your son or your family."
Ms Rita needed 14 stitches for her injuries and was given three days of medical leave.
She has since made a police report and investigations are ongoing. No arrest has been made so far.
Ms Rita said she was heading home from work on Dec 4 when she remembered that her son had asked her to buy some drawing blocks for him.
She would usually return home first to change into another pair of shoes and pick up her son to go shopping nearby.
But she had a "bad feeling" that day and decided to go alone instead.
Her decision to leave her six-year-old boy at home proved wise.
She said: "I was walking home after buying a newspaper and the drawing blocks when someone hit my head from behind. I felt dizzy and collapsed to the ground."
She landed on her palms and felt someone stepping hard on the right side of her face, pressing the left side against the ground.
"I heard two guys talking but couldn't make out what they were saying. Then someone kicked me twice on my right thigh," she said.
"One of them later slashed me repeatedly with something sharp, like a pen knife, on my right arm.
"At first, I thought I had just become a victim of another gang attack."
Ms Rita was referring to the recent gang-related attacks reported in the media.
Although the attack took place in broad daylight, she said the area was deserted and no one came to her aid.
She walked home and when her son saw her, he was shocked to see his mother bleeding.
She said: "He kept asking me, 'Mummy, what happened? What happened?'
"Luckily he wasn't with me during the attack."
Abusive husband
Ms Rita's father accompanied her to Changi General Hospital where she received treatment.
Ms Rita and her ex-husband, 31, finalised their divorce in May after seven years of marriage.
She said that he turned abusive three months after the birth of their only child in 2004.
"I suspected he had an affair and he would beat me," she said.
One of his worst attacks, which happened in June last year, landed her in hospital for four days.
Ms Rita recalled: "I had moved out of our flat as we had separated. I was staying with my parents while he continued to live at our matrimonial flat in Tampines."
She had returned to the three-room flat with her maid to retrieve some of her things that day.
"He was sleeping in the master bedroom, so we went to pack my son's stuff in another bedroom," she said.
"We were halfway through when he came out and asked us what we were doing. I told him not to pick a fight and he shouted at me."
A fight ensued. Ms Rita claimed her former husband pushed her shoulder and she pushed him back.
He then allegedly slapped her, pulled her hair and hit her head against the wall.
She broke free from his grip and ran into the master bedroom, but he followed her and used a clothes hanger to beat her.
He also tried to choke her and pressed his knee onto her abdomen, Ms Rita alleged.
She ended up injuring her neck and had to wear a neck brace during her four days in hospital, she said.
She showed TNP a copy of her police report and some pictures of her in the neck brace.
With the police report, she applied for a PPO against her ex-husband.
It was not the first time she had done that.
Ms Rita claimed he had punched her right eye after he came home from work in 2007 or 2008. She had then applied successfully for a PPO against him.
But her father advised her to get it cancelled.
Her father, a 55-year-old hawker, said: "Now I regret (telling her to cancel it).
"At that time, I thought, they are husband and wife...Why let a PPO get between them?"
After the attack last year, Ms Rita decided to apply for another PPO. She has not spoken to her former husband since the attack.
She said she had obtained an expedited order (EO) and was still waiting for a PPO to be granted when the latest attack took place.
An EO is a temporary protection order and can be granted when the court is satisfied that there is imminent danger of family violence being committed against one party.
Breaching an EO or PPO is a criminal offence under the Women's Charter.
When contacted, the police confirmed that Ms Rita had lodged reports over the June 2009 and Dec 4 incidents.
A spokesman added that the police are looking into the matter.
The New Paper tried contacting Ms Rita's ex-husband, but his number is no longer in use.
From dream guy to hubby from hell
HE WAS her first love.
After their chance meeting at her school canteen, he courted her for five years.
Ms Rita said: "His team's stadium was next to my school. One day in 1998, the team came to our canteen for lunch. That's how we met."
He was a smooth talker, she said.
To top it off, he was a handsome footballer with a good physique.
But things changed dramatically after they got married in 2003.
Ms Rita thought she had found a "sweet guy" to spend the rest of her life with, but her dreamboat soon turned out to be the hubby from hell.
She said: "Our son was born in 2004. Three months later, I suspected he was having an affair. He became hot-tempered and scolded me often.
Changed man
"He changed a lot after marriage."
She said they divorced in 2008 after he returned home from work bad-tempered one day. He said three times to divorce her.
But a few weeks later, the couple made up and remarried.
"I thought he would change after we remarried. We even went on a short trip to Johor Baru with our son," said Ms Rita.
Then came the incident in June last year which landed her in hospital for four days.
The couple finalised their second divorce in May this year, and Ms Rita has sole care and custody of their six-year old son, she said.
Despite what has happened to her, Ms Rita cried twice when asked if she still loved her former husband.
Tears welling up in her eyes, she paused before saying: "He is my first love. I don't understand how he could do this to me.
"People keep telling me to dump him. But it's different. I slept with him. He was my husband."
But despite her soft spot for him, she has made up her mind this time.
"There's no way I can take him back after this," she said.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
