SINGAPORE — High-profile entertainment lawyer Samuel Seow was charged in court on Friday (June 7) with assaulting and threatening three of his law firm’s employees at their office on two separate occasions last year.

Seow, 46, faces one charge of voluntarily causing hurt, two charges of using criminal force on a person and one charge under the Protection from Harassment Act.

He is the managing director of Samuel Seow Law Corporation, and is well-known in the local entertainment scene for representing celebrities, including former actress Michelle Saram and singer-songwriter Tanya Chua, in legal cases.

He also runs artiste management firm Beam Artistes, which organises annual beauty pageant Manhunt Singapore.

According to court documents, on April 3 last year at about 8pm, he allegedly told employee Rachel Kang: “I will take a knife and kill you.”

About two weeks later, on April 17 at around 6pm, he allegedly grabbed the arms of an associate at his firm, Ms Brenda Kong, pushed her against a table and slapped her left cheek several times.

Ms Kong, who is Seow's niece, has since left the firm.

He is also said to have poked Ms Kang’s forehead with his finger and pushed another employee, Ms Serene Tan, to the ground. It is not known if Ms Tan is still at the firm.

Two videos of the incident were leaked online in April, showing him beating and chasing a female staff member around the office about a year ago.

Following the video leak, he made a police report and released a statement, saying he hoped to find closure and move on with his life.

He also admitted that there was “an issue” in his office last year and said he would leave it to the police to investigate.

Seow, who was dressed in a suit on Friday and appeared downcast, is represented by Mr Eugene Thuraisingam and Mr Chooi Jing Yen from Eugene Thuraisingam LLP. He will next appear in court on July 5.

If convicted of causing hurt, he could be jailed up to two years, fined up to S$5,000, or both.

If convicted of using criminal force on any person other than on grave and sudden provocation, he could be jailed up to three months, fined up to S$1,500, or both.

If convicted of causing distress to a person, he could be jailed up to six months, fined up to S$5,000, or both.

Last year, a 30-minute-long audio clip of the alleged incident made its rounds online. It purportedly captured the sound of Mr Seow in a dispute with a former employee, whom he revealed was his niece.

In an interview after the clip was leaked and his niece had filed a police report, Seow said she was the one who had shoved him first, and he had then slapped her for being rude.

But over a week later, both of them withdrew police reports they had made against each other.

LAW SOCIETY SAYS

In response to a query from TODAY, Mr Gregory Vijayendran, the President of the Law Society of Singapore, said: "We have full faith in our legal system to mete out a just verdict in Mr Samuel Seow’s case."

He noted that the Law Society has previously commented that it does not condone any form of abuse, and that last year, its governing council had unanimously referred information about Seow's conduct to the chairman of an inquiry panel looking into the matter.

"The matter is now pending before the disciplinary tribunal. The Law Society will, in due course, as mandated under the Legal Profession Act, publish the findings and determination of the disciplinary tribunal in the Singapore Law Gazette when the matter has been determined,” he added.