SINGAPORE — Spurned by his lover, a construction worker armed himself with a penknife and waited for more than two hours at a void deck in Tampines, before slashing his girlfriend’s face and neck with the weapon.

Today (Feb 11) in court, Indian national Palaiyan Murugadass, 41, was sentenced to four years’ jail and nine strokes of the cane for this premeditated brutal attack on Ms Adolfo Allen Remedio, which left her permanently scarred.

Court documents showed that Palaiyan started dating the 38-year-old Filipino domestic helper in 2013.

She initiated a break-up last July, but he was unwilling to let her go. He went on to make 20 to 30 phone calls a day to her, all of which went unanswered.

Then, wanting “to teach her a lesson”, he took with him a penknife with a blade measuring about 7cm, and waited to ambush her at 310 Tampines Street 33 on Aug 23 last year.

At around 6.30pm, Ms Remedio alighted from a bus and headed to her employer’s home. Palaiyan approached her and threatened her repeatedly: “You playing me, you playing me, you will see, I will kill you.”

She ignored him and continued walking, and that was when he slashed her across the throat with the penknife. She raised her left hand to push the penknife away, but ended up being cut on the wrist, followed by a slash across the left cheek.

When a passerby heard Ms Remedio shouting for help and called the police, Palaiyan flung the weapon into a nearby bush and fled to his dormitory in a taxi.

Ms Remedio was hospitalised at Singapore General Hospital for more than a month, and left permanently disfigured.

Those convicted of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by a dangerous weapon may be jailed for life, and may also be fined or caned.