S'pore man breaks stranger's nose thinking he's hitting on drunk wife, gets 8 weeks' jail

A man who mistook a stranger for making advances towards his drunk wife headbutted him and broke his nose.

The incident occurred near Bugis+ in the early hours of Feb. 18, 2025, Shin Min Daily News reported.

The 45-year-old man, identified in court documents as Wu Yaozong (transliteration), was sentenced to eight weeks' jail after pleading guilty to a charge of voluntarily causing hurt.

Wife got drunk after dinner with friends

According to court documents, Wu's 41-year-old wife had met two friends for dinner and drinks at Bugis+ at around 5pm on Feb. 17, 2025.

After becoming intoxicated, she called Wu and asked him to pick her up.

When Wu realised his wife was drunk, he headed to Bugis+ to fetch her.

This was despite the fact that Wu had also been drinking with his friends and was intoxicated.

Misunderstanding led to assault

At around 12:24am on Feb. 18, the victim, a 34-year-old man, drove to the area to pick up his girlfriend, who was a friend of Wu's wife.

Seeing that Wu's wife was heavily intoxicated, the victim's girlfriend suggested that he send Wu's wife home too.

As she was walking unsteadily, the victim held onto Wu's wife to support her.

When Wu arrived, he saw the victim holding onto his wife and confronted him.

The victim explained that he was merely helping and intended to send Wu's wife home.

However, Wu became angry and pushed the man against a wall.

Ignoring further explanations, he then headbutted the victim in the face.

The victim subsequently called the police.

Victim suffered fractured nose

The victim was taken to Singapore General Hospital, where he was found to have suffered a one-centimetre laceration on his nose and a fractured nasal bone.

He was given four days of medical leave.

Court documents showed that Wu later compensated the victim S$207 for his medical expenses.

Despite the misunderstanding, the court sentenced Wu to eight weeks' jail for the assault.