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S'pore cafe owner, 51, lets man, 31, stay at her condo for 7 months after learning of his family problems, he assaults her
He pulled her hair, and damaged two phones and two laptops that belonged to her.
Xueting Wu
February 10, 2026, 09:22 AM
mothership.sg
A Singaporean man has been charged with assaulting a woman who had let him stay at her condo for about seven months after learning that he was having problems at home.
On Mar. 8, 2021, after getting angered, he pulled her hair, chased after her in a carpark, and damaged two phones and two laptops belonging to the victim.
The woman was a 51-year-old cafe owner in Singapore, while the man, 31-year-old Xavier Lim Jia Han, was a regular customer at her cafe.He faced a total of nine charges and pleaded guilty to four on Feb. 6, 2026.
These four charges had to do with the destruction of the cafe owner's electronic devices, driving without a valid driving licence, and cheating a car rental company into renting him a vehicle.
The remaining charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing.
Staying at the victim's house
Lim got to know the victim in May 2020, after he started visiting her cafe, according to court documents seen by Mothership.
In August that year, he told her that he was having disputes with his family and even fought with his mother.Concerned, the victim allowed him to stay at her house temporarily, but he ended up overstaying his welcome.
He continued to stay at her place for seven months despite her trying to advise and convince him to return to his own home.
The incident
In the afternoon of Mar. 8, 2021, Lim's father approached the victim at the basement carpark of her condo, and said he had come to bring his son and his belongings back home.
While they were talking to each other, Lim suddenly appeared, looking agitated.He went up to the victim and pulled her hair, then grabbed her phone from her and threw it onto the ground.
He also started chasing after her in the carpark.
Afterwards, he went to the victim’s car, which was unlocked, and took another phone and two laptops, then threw them onto the ground as well.
The two MacBook laptops were worth S$1,400 each, while the values of the phones were not established.
Lim's actions were wholly unprovoked and unwarranted, the prosecutor argued.
He intended to cause wrongful loss to the victim, who became anxious and was greatly inconvenienced following the incident.The accused has not made any restitution to the victim to date.
Ten days after this incident, on Mar. 18, he broke into the victim's house "with an intent to annoy" her, according to the prosecutor.
Other charges
The prosecutor sought a global sentence of 18 to 24 weeks in prison, and a four-year disqualification from holding a driving licence.In terms of the individual sentences, the heaviest that the prosecutor sought for was for deceiving the car rental company.
On five occasions between Dec. 24, 2019, and Feb. 13, 2020, he used a friend's details to create an account with Premium Automobiles online, to rent vehicles for his own use.He was not qualified and authorised to drive any vehicles at all times, the prosecutor said.
Top images from Ji Yunxian/Zaobao
