Man, 67, arrested for murder after woman stabbed in Yishun noise dispute

SINGAPORE: A 67-year-old man was arrested for murder on Wednesday (Sep 24) after a noise dispute turned deadly at a Yishun housing block.

A 31-year-old Vietnamese woman was taken unconscious to hospital, where she died, said the police.

Two others were taken to hospital - the suspect and a 33-year-old man. 

The police said they were called to the scene at Block 323 Yishun Central at about 7.25am on Wednesday.

"Upon arrival, police saw one woman and two men lying injured at the sixth-floor corridor," said the Singapore Police Force, adding that the suspect allegedly used a knife to injure a couple.

"Preliminary investigations revealed that a fight arose from a noise dispute," the police added.

When CNA arrived at the scene at 10.40am, there were at least five police cars parked at the block.

The staircase at the lift landing had been cordoned off, with bloodstains just outside the lift.

Police officers were seen along the corridor of the sixth floor, and reporters were advised to stay away.

Ms Clara Koh, who lives on the seventh floor, told CNA that she was woken up around 7am by "really loud shouting".

She ran to the sixth floor with her father and saw her neighbour lying on the ground, bleeding from her stomach. According to Ms Koh, 28, the woman's husband tried to fend off another neighbour from the fifth floor who was wielding a kitchen knife and attempting to attack him.

The husband appeared to have been stabbed in the back. "He tried to protect his wife and he got grabbed," Ms Koh told CNA.

According to Ms Koh, the victims were both in their 30s, while the man who attacked them was in his 60s.

"I can't remember if she was conscious, but her husband was asking if someone could perform CPR and call the police," she said. "I ran back upstairs while my dad stayed there."

Ms Koh, who moved into the flat with her family two years ago, said the two sets of neighbours on the fifth and sixth floors have been at loggerheads for years.

She added that the couple have two children who are around three to five years old.

The neighbours on the fifth floor would apparently get angry when the children dropped toys on the floor or ran around, as the noise would travel to the floor below.

Ms Koh said she heard from her father that the fifth-floor neighbour would retaliate by hitting the ceiling with a mop and other objects.

According to Ms Koh, the man on the fifth floor did not speak to many neighbours.

"I've just been in my room, sitting there and trying to figure out what's happening," Ms Koh said. "It just feels kind of unreal, I don't understand how such a fight could happen."