Public Prosecutor v Kwok Teng Soon

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Tay Yong Kwang JC
• Judgment Date: 28 September 2001
• Neutral Citation: [2001] SGHC 283
• Date: 28 September 2001
• Subject Matter: Sentencing,Culpable homicide not amounting to murder,Accused suffering from delusional disorder at time of offence,s 304(a) Penal Code (Cap 224),Diminished responsibility,Criminal Procedure and Sentencing,Conditions justifying sentence of life imprisonment,'Neo Man Lee principles'
• Docket Number: Criminal Case No 46 of 2001
• Published date: 19 September 2003
• Defendant Counsel: R Tiwary (R Tiwary & Co)
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Plaintiff Counsel: Hee Mee Lin and Aaron Lee Teck Chye (Attorney General's Chambers)

: The accused, a male, 51 years of age, pleaded guilty to a charge under s 304(a) of the Penal Code (Cap 224) for having committed culpable homicide not amounting to murder by causing the death of his 32-year-old wife in his flat in Yishun.

The accused had been working as a technical officer in the Ministry of Environment. His deceased wife was from China. They got acquainted through a marriage agency. The deceased`s work permit was cancelled in October 2000 but the accused extended her stay here and placed a security deposit of $5,000 for that purpose after she told him that she wished to marry him.

On 2 November 2000, they married each other. The deceased then returned to China for about three months to arrange for her daughter from a previous marriage to come to Singapore for studies. She returned here in March 2001.

On 18 March 2001, the deceased asked for $4,000 from the accused. He withdrew $2,000 from an automated teller machine, gave the money to the deceased and informed her that he would withdraw another $2,000 the following day. He did so on 19 March 2001 but did not question the deceased about the purpose of the money as he was afraid she would get angry.

On 20 March 2001, he withdrew another $5,000 by way of cashier`s order for the security deposit for the deceased`s daughter`s stay in Singapore. After that, the accused began to think about all the money he had withdrawn and recalled an incident in which he had been cheated of money by another girl from China who was very secretive. He noticed that the deceased was also secretive and had not expressed any joy at their reunion upon her return from China. He began to get angry as he was afraid that the deceased would also cheat him. He decided to withdraw all the money remaining in his bank account (about $29,000) and closed it. He then went to book an air ticket for himself, intending to go to China for a tour on his own.

When he arrived home that day, he handed the $5,000 cashier`s order to the deceased but she told him she would go to the Singapore Immigration and Registration Department with him. She asked for another $1,000. That was given to her by way of a cheque.

On 21 March 2001, at around 8pm, the accused returned home and sat down to watch television in the living room. The deceased was in the bedroom. He began to think again about all the money he had expended on his wife and became increasingly angry as he contemplated the possibility that she was with him only for his money.

At about 10pm that night, he went into the bedroom and asked the deceased why she needed the $4,000. The deceased did not reply and became angry. An argument followed. The deceased then told him to leave the bedroom.

Back in the living room, a lot of things went through his mind. He felt his body was getting weaker and wondered whether his wife had been administering poison to him.

A few hours later, at about 1am on 22 March 2001, the accused went to the kitchen, got hold of a chopper and returned to the bedroom. He woke his wife up, pointed the chopper at her and asked why she had been so quiet, threatening to use the chopper on her if she did not explain the need for the $4,000. His wife lay in bed, staring at him in anger. The accused then slashed her face once. She got up immediately to defend herself but the accused continued to slash her with the chopper, ignoring her cries as to why he was doing that to her.

She ran out of the bedroom with the accused hot on her heels swinging the chopper at her. She tried to open the main door of the flat but found it locked. The accused caught hold of her and as she turned around, slashed her face and her neck. Her arms, which she used to try to fend off the blows, were similarly bloodied. Eventually, she slumped to the floor, facing upwards. As she lay on the floor helplessly, the accused continued to slash her neck, stopping only in exhaustion.

He then realised that he had killed his wife who was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, almost decapitated. He walked around the flat in a confused state. Later, he called the police informing them that he had killed a woman.

When the police officers arrived at the eleventh floor lift lobby in the block of flats, they saw the accused with blood on his face and his clothes. He led the police officers to his flat where they saw the gory scene. Upon being questioned, the accused admitted that he had killed his wife. He was then placed under arrest.

In statements made to the police during investigations, the accused admitted to having killed his wife. The autopsy report certified the cause of death as `Multiple Incised wounds to Head and Neck`. The medical examination of the accused showed that he had not consumed alcohol that fateful day.

In his report dated 11 June 2001, Dr Eu Pui Wai, a consultant psychiatrist at the Woodbridge Hospital, opined that the accused was fit to plead and to stand trial, that he was suffering from delusional disorder and, at the time of the offence, was suffering from an abnormality of mind arising from a delusional disorder which had substantially impaired his mental responsibility for his act and that it amounted to diminished responsibility. Dr Eu also noted that the accused had been admitted to Woodbridge Hospital from 29 June 2000 to 4 July 2000. This was because the accused believed he had AIDS even though his HIV test done four months earlier proved to be negative and he had tried to injure himself by banging his head against the wall at the Communicable Disease Centre. He was then diagnosed to be suffering from delusional disorder and was prescribed medication. The accused defaulted on his...