What started out as two elderly neighbours knocking into each other at a lift lobby escalated into a knife attack that left one of them with non-fatal wounds.
However, the victim, identified as Mr Chua Kin Tong, 69, later died of a heart disease about two hours after the attack on Dec 22, 2024.
His assailant, Lim Tee Tee, 72, was sentenced to a year in jail after he pleaded guilty to an assault charge on July 17.
At the time of the offence, Lim and Mr Chua were living on the eighth floor of a Housing Board block of flats in King George’s Avenue, near Jalan Besar.
Lim was on his way home shortly before 11.30am on Dec 22, 2024, and was stepping out of a lift on the eighth floor when he knocked into Mr Chua, who was trying to enter it.
Both men became unhappy over this encounter and Lim returned to his flat.
However, Mr Chua later asked another neighbour, Mr Hussain Mohamed, 66, to meet him.
Mr Hussain agreed even though he did not know why Mr Chua wanted to see him.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Joseph Gwee told the court: “The victim and Hussain went to the accused’s unit. The victim took a wooden stick and confronted the accused about the earlier collision.
“The accused opened the gate to his unit. The verbal argument escalated when the victim used the wooden stick to hit the accused once outside the unit.”
Lim then ran to his kitchen and retrieved a 50cm-long knife with a 37cm-long blade.
A scuffle broke out between Mr Chua and Lim at the common corridor near their homes.
During the fight at around 11.30am, Lim repeatedly slashed Mr Chua, causing injuries to his head and limbs.
Seeing this, Mr Hussain grabbed Lim and told both men to stop fighting.
However, Lim continued to swing the knife rashly, wounding Mr Hussain’s left forearm.
Court documents stated that Mr Chua managed to get away and met police officers who were on patrol as he stepped out of a lift at the ground floor.
He told the officers about what had happened and collapsed.
Meanwhile, Lim had stopped brandishing the knife and Mr Hussain asked him for some water to clean his wounds.
The pair remained near Lim’s unit when the police officers arrived at the scene soon after.
Both Mr Chua and Mr Hussain were taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where Mr Chua was pronounced dead at 1.20pm.
Lim, who suffered multiple injuries, including wounds to his forehead and left leg and arm, was taken to Changi General Hospital. He was arrested later that day.
An Institute of Mental Health report dated Jan 23, 2025, stated that he had persistent depressive disorder, which had a mild contributory link to his offending behaviour.
The DPP said: “However, he remained cognitively aware that it was wrong for him to bring the knife out, and had chosen the knife deliberately as a suitable weapon for self-defence.”
He added that Lim was not of unsound mind at the time of the offence and is fit to plead in court.
Shaffiq Alkhatib for The Straits Times
Man, 72, jailed for slashing another elderly man who later died
