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SINGAPORE – A man with a psychotic disorder thought about attacking someone to make him feel happy and not live his life in misery.
Neo Hong Wei, 23, had not taken his medication for three days before cutting a 27-year-old woman in the head and body with a kitchen knife in September last year.
On Tuesday (March 23), he pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily wounding Ms. Ong Hui Xian with the 12-inch long kitchen knife in the parking lot near Block 412 Choa Chu Kang Avenue 3.
He has been in custody since the incident.
Deputy Prosecutor Ng Jun Chong said Neo felt very stressed while at home that day and thought about “doing something wrong” so that he could feel better.
Thinking of attacking someone, he took a knife with a 17 cm blade from the kitchen and left home.
In the parking lot, Neo made eye contact with Ms. Ong, who was walking towards him, and pulled the knife behind him.
Seeing this, Ms. Ong, who did not know Neo, ran away, but he chased after him.
While running, Ms. Ong tripped and fell. Neo approached her and slashed her head and body repeatedly while trying to block the blows.
Despite her injuries, Ms. Ong managed to get up and run, screaming for help as Neo chased after her.
An off-duty police officer in her apartment heard Ms. Ong scream and saw Neo running after her with a knife.
He ran downstairs, borrowed a hoe from a nearby construction site, and approached Neo in the parking lot.
When the police officer told Neo to put down the knife, he yelled “why” and started cutting his forearm with the knife.
With the help of members of the public, the police officer disarmed Neo and tied him up with rope.
Police officers who arrived at the scene noticed that Ms. Ong was visibly distressed and had dried blood on her face. He suffered multiple lacerations and abrasions to his head and body.
The psychiatric evaluation of the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) found that Neo had a psychotic disorder, but “he was not so psychotic that he had abdicated his mental ability to distinguish right from wrong.”
The IMH report dated October last year added that Neo runs the risk of acting violently towards others and is unlikely to comply with psychiatric treatment if left alone.
District Judge May Mesenas requested that Neo undergo another medical examination to better understand his health and whether he contributed to his crimes.
Neo’s attorneys, Josephus Tan and Cory Wong of Invictus Law Corporation, said that when they visited him in Changi Prison, he was taking his medication.
Those convicted of willfully causing harm with a deadly weapon can face up to seven years in jail, fined and flogged.
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