He punches ex-girlfriend near her school

A teenager was yesterday sentenced to reformative training for punching his ex-girlfriend in the jaw.

Full-time national serviceman Pravin Raja Morgan, 19, had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge of voluntarily causing hurt.

A Community Court heard that on Jan 29 this year, Pravin approached his former girlfriend, a 17-year-old student at Chestnut Drive Secondary School at Upper Bukit Timah Road.

At about 3.50pm, the girl was walking with her schoolmates along Chestnut Avenue when Pravin approached her, asking to speak to her privately.

He also asked her to hand over her mobile phone. When she refused, he put his hands into her skirt pocket to take the phone by force and pushed her onto a grass patch.

He punched her right jaw and neck, as he hurled vulgarities at her.

The girl's schoolmates tried to intervene to break up the fight but Pravin threatened to beat up one of them - 16-year-old Jamiel Lee - if he continued meddling in their affairs.

Jamiel confronted Pravin, who followed up on his threat and beat up the younger teen.

Another charge of voluntarily causing hurt for punching Jamiel was taken into consideration during sentencing.

No third chance

In court yesterday, Community Court Judge Mathew Joseph noted that Pravin had been before him just three months ago for robbery, which the judge described as a "serious offence".

"I said then that I'll give you second chance... That's why I gave you probation," he said.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sarah Shi pointed out that a report to assess Pravin's suitability for reformative training showed that he had also assaulted his mother.

Judge Joseph said Pravin even used violence on his own mother when she tried to remind him to adhere to his probation conditions.

"The fact that you punched the lady on the jaw, it's almost like you're behaving like a gangster, do you know what that means?

"I'm going to put you somewhere you can learn some discipline," the judge said before sentencing Pravin to reformative training.

A stint at the Reformative Training Centre lasts between 18 and 30 months, and includes structured rehabilitation programmes, foot drills and counselling.

This article was first published on August 14, 2015.
Get The New Paper for more stories.