A medical centre owner has been arrested for illegally detaining and beating his wife, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chan Wun Man said during a special press conference yesterday.

The 49-year-old local suspect surnamed Lio owns a medical centre in the city centre where his 32-year-old local wife also works. They married in 2014 and have an 8-year-old son who lives in the mainland.

According to Chan, the victim reported to the police on Monday that her husband had frequently abused her at the work place, where he would beat her over trivial matters. 

Chan said that the victim had been beaten more than 10 times since 2018, and in January last year after failing to find a specific item for her husband he bound her hands and tied a cloth around her neck and then vituperated her. She was then locked in a room for six hours until 2 a.m. the next day.

Chan noted that two female non-resident workers (NRWs) in their thirties, surnamed Gugulan and Li, who were at the scene and turned a blind eye to the victim’s request for help, have also been arrested.

Lio had once humiliated his wife by brushing her face with a toilet brush and pulled her hair frequently when he became aggressive and manipulative, Chan said, adding that the victim did not report her husband’s abuse to the police since she was economically dependent on him.

According to Chan, the victim stopped living with Lio over a year ago, but Lio kept abusing her verbally in the workplace and not letting her leave work.

The victim finally reported the case to the police last week accompanied by a social worker who persuaded her to make a complaint against her husband.

Chan noted that the victim is in the process of divorcing the suspect, and their son was unaware of the domestic abuse.

Lio was arrested on Tuesday, and denied the accusations, Chan said.

Lio and the cases of Gugulan and Li have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP). Lio faces domestic abuse and illegal-detention charges, while Gugulan and Li face charges of failure to provide necessary assistance to remove danger. 

Judiciary Police (PJ) officers escort the hooded suspect from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday. – Photos: William Chan

The brush used by the suspect to humiliate the victim is displayed in a pressroom at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.