Chopper-wielding man jailed for threatening to kill condominium neighbours over noise dispute
Within three months of moving in, Lo Kok Yong and his wife had made three police reports against the neighbours living directly above them as they felt the noise was generated by them.
File photo of a man wielding a chopper.
SINGAPORE: A man was jailed for four months on Wednesday (Oct 4) for threatening to kill his condominium neighbours while striking their gate with a chopper.
Lo Kok Yong, 40, pleaded guilty to one count each of criminal intimidation and arming himself with a chopper.
The court heard that the Malaysian man and his wife, a Chinese national, moved into a unit on the first floor of Regentville condominium in Hougang in May 2021.
The couple, who are both Singapore permanent residents, made multiple complaints about noise that they perceived to be coming from the unit directly above them.
From July to August 2021, Lo and his wife made three police reports over the noise and lodged multiple reports to the managing committee of the condominium.
At around 5am on Aug 17 that year, Lo heard noises that he thought were coming from the unit above. He used a plastic stick to knock against the ceiling, to tell the occupants that they were noisy.
The noise stopped for a while, but Lo began hearing noises again about an hour later.
At about 7.30am, his wife called the condominium security. A guard headed to the second-floor unit with Lo's wife, who confronted the occupants.
When Lo heard the confrontation, he took a chopper from his kitchen and went upstairs.
As he walked along the second-floor corridor, he held the chopper and shouted at the victims: "If you make noise again, I don't mind exchange my one life with your whole family life."
The victims closed the door and called the police.
Lo then hit the victims' gate with his chopper a few times, denting it.
The police arrived about 10 minutes later and arrested Lo.
The prosecutor sought five to six months' jail for Lo, noting the severity of the threat, which was made to multiple victims.
It was also a "real and imminent" threat that Lo shouted while approaching the unit with a chopper in hand.
He also put force behind his threat by hitting the victims' gate with the weapon, said the prosecutor.
The threat would have hung over the victim's family long after it was uttered, since Lo lived directly below them.
There was also damage caused to property.
While Lo had pleaded guilty, the prosecutor said he did so only on the first day of trial, and that he had been caught red-handed by four different people.
"There is a clear need to deter such brazen and lawless conduct involving weapons," said the prosecutor.
"This is especially given the context in which the offence was committed. Given Singapore's high density, a signal must be sent that disputing neighbours cannot resort to threatening each other with choppers."
For arming himself with a weapon without lawful authority or purpose, Lo could have been jailed for up to two years and fined.
For criminal intimidation with a death threat, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years, fined, or both.
