She was gentle and loving when they wedded, but later turned into a monster that made his life a living hell.
That’s according to 30-year-old Mr Shen, who claims that his Vietnamese wife started physically abusing him a year into their marriage.
Mr Shen said that he first met his Vietnamese wife through Facebook in 2014.
He flew to Vietnam a month after they began chatting online, and the pair were married by the end of the year.
Then, Mr Shen said, things started to change.
“3 years ago she had bad temper tantrums when pregnant. At that time she was already hitting me with the broom sometimes. I thought she was uncomfortable because she was pregnant so I bore with it.”
But Mr Shen said the physical abuse persisted even after his wife gave birth to their son.
He claims she also became unreasonable – in April this year, he said that she stopped him from performing “sao mu”during the Qing Ming festival for no apparent reason.
Then came an argument in August this when Mr Shen claims his wife picked up a clothes rack and struck him with it on his face and legs, leaving painful bruises.
“In August this year, I was washing clothes when my wife suddenly attacked me with a clothes rack. She yelled at me, saying ‘You don’t know how to wash the clothes and they’re not clean, might as well don’t wash.’ I felt embarrassed because the neighbour heard her.”
Mr Shen said that his wife asked him for money at the time, which she usually does, to the tune of between S$300 to S$500.
“I earn S$1400 a month. Sometimes because I can’t give her the money because I am also feeling the pinch. Then she will get mad.”
Mr Shen also said that his wife also cuckolded him – or, made him “wear green hat” – after she started work at a bread factory.
He reportedly saw her male supervisor driving her home, and the two kissing passionately in his car.
Mr Shen said confronted them but both denied they any hanky-panky.
“After she got home, she was furious and quarelled with me then ignored me for the whole day. When I pushed her, she called the police. Later when the police officers came, she showed them some marks on her neck and said I caused those marks.”
Mr Shen said he spent the night in the police lock-up as a result of his wife calling the cops on him, and she bailed him out the next day.
After that incident, he took his son with him to go and live with a friend.
He has also applied for a Personal Protection Order (PPO) against his wife.
When interviewed, Mr Shen’s wife said that she has been falsely.
She said that since moving to Singapore, she has worked hard to suppor the family as her husband doesn’t give her an allowance.
“At that time we were in love, I left my hometown and came to Singapore. But my husband is not hardworking, he doesn’t want to do his work well, but I never look down on him and even try my best to help to support the family.”
She said that last year she moved into new HDB flat with her husband and they rented out one of the rooms as she hoped that the extra S$600 income a month would help to cover some family expenses
“My husband doesn’t give me allowance, that’s why I take S$5 everyday from the monthly rent to prepare 3 meals for myself and my son.”
The aggrieved wife says she does not know why her husband would treat her like this.
The couple are now in the midst of divorce proceedings and a custody battle over their 3-year-old son.
