Man, 80, who fatally stabbed debtor in 1990, gets 6 years' jail
Ng Kwang Keng was 45 when he stabbed a debtor to death and fled to Malaysia.
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SINGAPORE: An illegal moneylender who fatally stabbed a debtor in 1990 before fleeing to Malaysia was sentenced to six years' jail on Tuesday (Dec 30), more than three decades after his offence.
Ng Kwang Keng, 80, earlier pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt with a weapon to Mr Lim Kim Leng, 27.
His sentencing was then adjourned for the prosecution to clarify Ng's medical conditions and for more information on his remand in Malaysia.
Prosecutors earlier sought six-and-a-half to eight years' jail, with another six months in lieu of 12 strokes of the cane. The law here does not allow anyone above the age of 50 to be caned.
The defence, represented by lawyers Prakash Otharam from Ashvin Law Corporation and Rohit Kumar Singh from Regal Law, asked for no more than five years' jail.
For voluntarily causing grievous hurt with a weapon likely to cause death, Ng could have been imprisoned for life or jailed for up to 10 years, and fined.
STABBED VICTIM WHEN COLLECTING DEBT
Mr Lim, the debtor, owed Ng, then 45, about S$22,000 (around US$12,000 at the time).
On Nov 6, 1990, Ng went to Mr Lim’s housing block to collect the debt. After an argument at the void deck of the block, a fight broke out and Ng then stabbed Mr Lim in the upper thigh with a knife.
Mr Lim bled profusely and later collapsed. He was taken to a hospital and admitted while he was comatose, with multiple stab wounds on his back, legs and right hand.
Due to complications, Mr Lim died on Dec 8, 1990.
An autopsy found that he had died from multiple organ failure following shock and haemorrhaging caused by the stab wound on his right leg.
A 2024 clarificatory report by the Health Sciences Authority of Singapore stated that the complications of the initial injury caused death.
Ng fled to Johor Bahru on the day of the stabbing, admitting to a friend that he had attacked Mr Lim.
He remained in Malaysia and was eventually detained there for an immigration offence.
Ng had declared himself a Singapore citizen, so the Malaysian authorities sought Singapore's assistance to deport him on Apr 21, 2022.
On May 24, 2023, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority notified the Singapore Police Force that Ng had been detained in Malaysia.
The prosecution said that the authorities needed time to verify Ng's identity since he had been away from Singapore. A specialist was required to verify his fingerprints against records, which was eventually completed on Dec 19, 2023.
Ng was deported to Singapore and arrested on Dec 21, 2023. He was charged the next day.
When District Judge Victor Yeo asked what had happened during the period between April 2022 and May 2023, the prosecution said that it had no details beyond confirming that Ng had been detained by the Malaysian authorities.
When it was the defence's turn to speak, Mr Prakash urged the court to consider the remand period when sentencing Ng.
The lawyer also highlighted Ng's "numerous" medical conditions, as set out in a report by the Singapore Prison Service.
"We just ask the court to exercise some compassion in this regard when deciding on the appropriate sentence," Mr Prakash said.
At an earlier hearing, the defence said that Ng suffered from chronic back and leg pain, persistent itchiness due to skin conditions, and low blood pressure, among other ailments.
Ng's sentence was backdated to Dec 21, 2023.
