SINGAPORE: A man was jailed a year and 10 months on Thursday (Apr 21) for stabbing his housemate with a kukri knife in their kitchen, causing a collapsed lung.
Teo Kok Yung, 35, pleaded guilty to two charges of voluntarily causing hurt and taking methamphetamine. Another charge was considered for sentencing.
The court heard that Teo, then a designer, was under the influence of cannabis or methamphetamine at the time of the offences.
During investigations, he admitted that he had been angry at the victim, who introduced him to drugs sometime in April 2020.
Teo said that he did not intend to kill the victim, and that he "wanted to take revenge as he had become a drug abuser because of (the victim)", said court documents.
Teo, his sister and the then 39-year-old victim were living together when the incident took place on Nov 12, 2020.
Sometime after midnight, while they were at home, the victim gave Teo some cannabis to smoke. Teo went to sleep after smoking it.
At about 4am, Teo woke up feeling angry towards the victim and picked up a kukri knife with a 28cm-long blade.
Leaving his room, Teo found the victim in the kitchen. He proceeded to use the knife to slash and stab the victim multiple times, directing his blows at the man's torso and back.
The victim used his hands to block some of the blows, and also tried to disarm and subdue Teo.
The commotion woke Teo's sister, who came out of her room and saw the two men scuffling. She tried to separate them but was unsuccessful, and called an ambulance.
The victim eventually managed to pin Teo to the floor and snatch the knife from him. He also took the chance to leave the apartment.
After paramedics arrived, they called the police and Teo was subsequently arrested.
The victim was taken to the hospital and found to have stab wounds and lacerations over his chest, back, stomach, arms and face in addition to the collapsed lung.
According to the prosecution, the victim had to receive invasive surgery for the insertion of a chest drain, and was put out of action for at least 20 days.
More at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/man-stab-housemate-introduced-drugs-cannabis-2638151
