Man jailed three years for stabbing neighbour
Reuters file photo
SINGAPORE — A 59-year-old man who stabbed his neighbour several times during a dispute was sentenced to three years’ jail on Thursday (April 28).
Bounty Gill had claimed trial for his offence of voluntarily causing grevious hurt with dangerous weapon, saying he was provoked suddenly by his neighbour Kho Ah Yeow.
Kho, also aged 59, had splashed a mug of hot oil and water on Gill before the stabbing, and in January this year, Kho was sentenced to three months’ jail.
The court heard previously that on the afternoon of June 25 last year, Kho left his unit to buy lunch when he saw Gill along the corridor of their housing block along Jalan Bukit Merah.
Kho confronted Gill, asking why he had knocked on the door many times in the morning. Gill denied it and they got into an argument. A neighbour later called the police.
Kho went back to his own home, took a metal mug containing hot oil and water, which were leftovers from a meal of fishball noodle soup. He then approached Gill and splashed it at him.
Gill shouted in pain and his body and face became slightly red. He later retrieved a 20cm-long knife from his flat and stabbed Kho in the abdomen a few times.
Defence lawyer Favian Kang argued that Gill was deprived of self-control because of “grave and sudden provocation” by Kho, who was the instigator.
During the two-day trial held this month, Gill told the court that after Kho suddenly and unexpectedly splashed hot oil and water at him, Kho repeatedly punched him.
Mr Kang said his client “felt provoked, disturbed and angry by Kho’s conduct and his mind went blank”. He also “did not know what happened after he broke free from Kho”, only that he found himself sitting at home, “shocked and scared”.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Yang Ziliang told the court that a “reasonable ordinary man” in Gill’s position would “understandably be upset and hurt” by Kho’s act, but this does not mean that Gill should “take matters into his own hands” by arming himself with a dangerous weapon.
“Vigilante justice has no place in our ordered society,” DPP Yang said.
In sentencing, District Judge Lim Keng Yeow said he took into the account that a knife was used and the injuries sustained on Kho were serious, even while he noted that Kho was the instigator in this incident.
For his offence, Gill could have been jailed for life, or jailed up to 15 years and be liable to a fine or caning.
