Husband regrets not going with wife to late-night birthday party - He goes to sleep, SHE GETS SLASHED
By Tay Shi'an
December 16, 2007
HE was supposed to go for drinks with his 25-year-old wife, to celebrate her friend's birthday.
(Above) Mrs Tan was cut so badly that a 10cm-long chunk of flesh was flapping open on her arms.
(Below) Mr Tan pointing to the bloodstains that led to his flat.
But Mr Tan, 41, decided to give it a miss because he had to work the next day.
So he went to sleep, and hours later, woke up to find his wife slumped at the door, bleeding profusely.
Her face had been slapped, and her right arm was sliced open, with a 10cm wound so deep that a chunk of flesh flapped open.
Mr Tan and his brother, who lives with them, immediately called an ambulance.
He then took some ice to try and stop the pain and bleeding.
'She was crying and so scared, like she was in a daze. I told her, 'Calm down, hubby is here',' he said.
Mrs Tan, a private school student, was on her way home at 4.45 am on Sunday after a night of drinks at Tanjong Pagar, when she was attacked by a masked robber on a footpath near her Anchorvale Drive home.
He took her $2,000 Louis Vuitton handbag, $430 mobile phone, $850 Louis Vuitton wallet, $40 cash and personal cards and papers.
--Pictures: Tay Shi'an
He then tried to drag her, leaving long scratch marks on her arms.
But a passer-by shouted at him, and he ran off.
The couple, who have been married for six months, asked not to be identified as they were afraid the man may come after them again.
Mrs Tan was warded in Changi General Hospital for three days, and received more than 20 stitches.
Said Mr Tan: 'He robbed my wife, but he didn't have to attack her like this.'
She was not sexually assaulted.
He said: 'He was trying to drag her to a dark place. Who knows what could have happened if the passer-by had not arrived.'
Mrs Tan said two men who attended the birthday party had offered to take her home that night.
But she turned them down, as they did not stay near her, and she did not know them very well.
She had just got out of a taxi when she received a call from her female friend who wanted to make sure she was home safe.
Ironically, it was soon after the call that she was attacked.
Mrs Tan said the man appeared to be 25 to 35 years old and well-built. He wore a dark-blue T-shirt and dark trousers, with a blue printed handkerchief around his face.
She said: 'He pounced at me from behind and pushed me down. I fell and tried to get up, but I was wearing heels, so I couldn't. Then he slapped me several times on the face and snatched my bag. I tried to pull it back, but he was too strong.'
The man then tried to grab her handphone. She said: 'I refused to let it go. He was trying to drag me at the same time to another place. I was scared he had an accomplice or what else he might do, so I held on to my phone so I could still try and call home or my friend, so I won't die.'
The two struggled so hard her clamshell Nokia N76 phone snapped into two.
That's when the passer-by came to her aid. He rushed to her, and told her she was bleeding heavily.
She said she remembered the robber making a slashing motion, but it had happened so fast she did not see what he used to attack her, or even know that she was injured.
She said: 'It was all a blur, it just happened so fast.
SILENT ATTACK
'Throughout the whole thing, he never said a word or made a single sound.'
The passer-by took Mrs Tan, who was shivering, back to her flat.
She left a trail of blood from her void deck to her corridor, some of which was still visible when The New Paper visited on Tuesday.
Said Mrs Tan: 'My brother-in-law told me that when he tried to clean the corridor, he almost vomited because the smell of blood was so strong.'
Mr Tan said he called to thank the passer-by for his help.
'I told him I must treat him to a meal for helping my wife, but he said he was just giving a helping hand.'
The man declined to be interviewed.
A police spokesman said investigations are on. No one has been arrested so far.
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