Annie and John (not their real names) should have been happily married on 9 September this year, but the wedding plans were called off when Annie found out about her fiance's infidelity.

Trouble began when she tried to get him to return $15,000 which he had borrowed from her.

John, who is a manager, turned nasty. He asked Annie out on what would have been their wedding day on the pretext of returning the money, and got two others, a man and a woman, to beat her up, before trying to abduct her, reported Lianhe Wanbao earlier this week.

John turned up in a car with his companions to meet Annie. John grabbed her by the shoulders while the woman, who had gotten out of the car with John, began to beat Annie. They both tried to push her into the car where the other man was waiting in the driver's seat, but Annie managed to free herself.

Annie told Lianhe Wanbao she managed to struggle free from them and escape by hopping onto an approaching bus. But John would not give up the chase. When she got onto the bus, John and his woman companion even got onto the bus to chase after Annie, but the bus driver stopped them from doing so.

She said: "If not for the bus driver, I would not have gotten free from them. My arms were scratched and bruised and my head was hurt." Annie made a police report and was sent to Tan Tock Seng hospital for treatment."

Moved to accept his proposal
Their courtship had begun a year earlier when Annie and John were introduced to each other through mutual friends. He pursued her passionately and would send her SMS-es everyday as well as flowers on a frequent basis.

She told the Chinese evening daily: "I was gradually moved by him, and accepted his marriage proposal on 6 June this year. Who knew this would be the beginning of my nightmare?"

Shortly after accepting his proposal, John would borrow money from Annie. He told her he wanted to use the money for their new home and to start a new business. Annie said: "I gave him two years' of my savings, which amounted to $19,000, but he has only returned $4,000 so far.

"When I found out later that he had a very close relationship with another woman - they would call each other terms of affection such as 'husband' and 'wife', I couldn't take the blow, and wanted to break up with him."

After the break-up, Annie asked John to return her the remaining amount of money that she had lent him. She added: "I didn't expect him to turn violent on me. I really regret trusting him!"

Thought he was an honest man
Annie also revealed that John did not even try to hold her hand when they were courting for the past 10 months. "I thought he was an honest man, but this is how he treats me. Now, I only want him to return my money, and I want nothing more to do with him," Annie added.

She tried looking for John at his place, but was told by the mother to give up her search. John's mother had told her that John was a divorcee, and his last marriage ended on a sour note.