Joel Goh Ming Xuan was sentenced to 54 days’ jail on Dec 5 after pleading guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt to a vulnerable person. - Photo: ST
SINGAPORE: Frustrated by his employer’s demands, a freelance caregiver took it out on his patient by punching him and hitting him in the face.
Joel Goh Ming Xuan, 22, was sentenced to 54 days’ jail on Friday (Dec 5) after pleading guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt to a vulnerable person.
Court documents showed he was employed by the victim’s mother in March 2024 to care for her son, who was bedridden and non-verbal.
This included duties such as cleaning the victim, changing his diapers and helping him move around the house.
In May 2024, Goh started arranging fewer sessions with the victim, as he was upset that his employer, the victim’s mother, often made him run additional errands and would send several messages to check on his whereabouts while he was carrying them out.
On July 2, 2024, Goh was upset again with his employer and decided to take it out on her son.
At about 8.25am, he told the woman, who was resting in the master bedroom, that he could manage taking care of her son on his own, and then closed the bedroom door.
“This roused the (woman’s) suspicion and she remotely turned on the closed-circuit television (camera) in the living room, which was linked to her mobile phone,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Jordy Kay told the court.
Video footage played in court showed Goh shifting the victim on the bed in the living room while changing his diaper at about 8.45am.
He tried to separate the victim’s legs and punched the victim’s thighs when he felt the latter resist.
He also hit the victim’s face once with his palm and shook his head vigorously when he wiped the victim’s face.
Goh’s actions caused pain to the victim, which led him to bite his inner lower lip.
Alarmed by what she saw, the victim’s mother rushed into the room to check on her son.
She asked Goh what had happened, but Goh did not respond.
The woman did not confront him then, as she wanted to rewatch the video footage before deciding what to do.
She and Goh later carried the victim to the master bedroom. Goh prepared food for the victim before leaving the flat.
The woman lodged a police report against Goh on July 5, 2024.
He was arrested on Sept 30, 2024.
Court records showed that Goh had also made voluntary restitution of S$3,000 to the victim’s family, and wrote them an apology letter on Sept 28, 2025.
The prosecution sought a sentence of eight to 12 weeks’ imprisonment for Goh, noting that there was a serious abuse of trust, as he was hired to care for the victim.
DPP Kay added that his offence was detected only because of the vigilance of the victim’s mother.
Goh’s lawyer, Roy Paul Mukkam from AW Law, argued for a lighter sentence, saying it was an “unfortunate incident”, and that Goh had made restitution to the victim.
In sentencing, the judge said that there was some form of premeditation in his acts, as he made sure he was alone in the room with the victim before committing the acts of violence.
Goh will begin his sentence on Dec 29.
For voluntarily causing hurt, an offender can be jailed for up to three years, fined up to $5,000, or both. - The Straits Times/ANN
