SINGAPORE — Already in trouble for consuming methamphetamine, Dickson Tan Yong Wen began harassing his former girlfriend, a domestic helper.

In April, he sent her a text message on WhatsApp stating, “Will give you a small surprise”, along with a screenshot of a video of them having sex. She filed a police report against him later that day.

Five days later, Tan approached her at a void deck of a public housing block in Marsiling as she returned from an outing on her day off and punched her twice until she blacked out.

He fled, having jumped bail for his previous offences, and was finally put in remand in June after showing up at a flat where another foreign domestic worker was living with her employer.

Tan, 32, pleaded guilty on Thursday (Nov 28) to seven assorted charges. This included causing hurt to the domestic helper, criminal intimidation, failing to report for a urine test and possessing counterfeit notes.

Sixteen other charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing in January. The prosecution is seeking a jail term of at least seven years and two months, three strokes of the cane, and a fine.

Tan is no stranger to breaking the law, having committed a string of offences — such as causing grievous hurt and cheating — dating back to 2007, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kathy Chu told the court.

He was also placed in the Drug Rehabilitation Centre for six months in 2017 for consuming a specified drug.

FIRST ARRESTED FOR HAVING DRUGS

The court heard that Tan was arrested on Oct 5 last year, when someone called the police at 2.30am to report a “suspicious-looking man” sitting at the staircase of a block of flats in Ang Mo Kio.

He fled from police officers because he knew he was wanted for other offences, but was eventually detained.

Court documents showed that he failed to return to the Lloyd Leas Community Supervision Centre from Sept 25 last year until the day before, when his leave had been cancelled.

Officers found two packets of methamphetamine and drug utensils on him. He was arrested and released on bail.

However, he reoffended in April by harassing his ex-girlfriend. He had met her on Facebook around November last year and they began dating two months later, but she broke up with him in March.

She cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity.

Tan continued to bombard her with text messages and phone calls, before sending the threatening text message and screenshot. She understood it to mean that he would publish the video of them having sex on various social media platforms.

She made a police report but he assaulted her five days later. Some passers-by helped her out and she was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in an ambulance.

Court documents did not state if Tan was arrested that evening.

POCKETED S$510

Just a few weeks later, another man lodged a police report against Tan — this time for misappropriating S$510 while working as a delivery driver for Ixpress647 Courier Service.

On April 30, Mr Sum Wen Suam had booked the company’s services and asked to pay in instalments. He had used Ixpress647 four times earlier without any problems.

Mr Sum contacted Tan as he was listed as the driver for the bookings. Tan gave Mr Sum his bank account details.

Mr Sum’s girlfriend then transferred S$510 to Tan for the bookings, which Tan was to hand over to one “SK Cycle”. Tan told Mr Sum that he could not make the payment until May 2, but spent all the money instead.

Mr Sum then filed the police report after contacting Tan a few times to ask for the money back.

Around that time, Tan used 22 counterfeit S$50 notes to pay for an iPhone that he saw on e-market Carousell. He had obtained the notes from a friend.

On June 11, he was arrested once more after turning up at the home of the employer of another domestic helper in Sembawang.

The employer told the police: “I made a report yesterday about a guy threatening our helper that he will attack her with the knife. Now, there is a guy outside our house. It is a Chinese, tattooed guy on an e-scooter. Please come fast.”

When police officers arrived there, Tan gave them a fake name and identification number. They discovered drugs and utensils on him, and discovered that he had jumped bail for other offences and failed to report for urine tests.

Tan has been in remand since.