A man sought revenge against his housemate, who allegedly turned him into a drug abuser by stabbing him with a kukri knife.
Teo Kok Yung, 35, pleaded guilty on Thursday (Apr 21) to two charges of voluntarily causing hurt and taking methamphetamine. Another charge was considered for sentencing.
Teo told investigators that he was angry at his housemate for introducing him to drugs sometime in April 2020.
He “wanted to take revenge as he had become a drug abuser because of (the victim),” said Teo in court documents, as reported by Channel News Asia.
The incident happened on Nov 12, 2020, when the victim gave Teo some cannabis to smoke.
Teo woke up at about 4 am, feeling angry at the victim. He grabbed their 28cm-long kukri knife and stabbed his housemate, who was in the kitchen.
Teo slashed the victim multiple times on the torso and back. Teo’s sister, who lived with them, heard the commotion and tried to break up the fight to no avail. She then called an ambulance.
Meanwhile, the victim managed to snatch the knife from Teo and leave the apartment.
Teo was later arrested and the victim was taken to the hospital, where he was found to have a collapsed lung in addition to the stab wounds.
According to an Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist who examined Teo, the accused was “labouring under the intoxicating effects of cannabis or methamphetamine at the material time” yet retained the ability to “moderate his intent to only cut or injure and not to kill” the victim.
Teo pleaded guilty to the offence and was sentenced to one year and 10 months imprisonment.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kenneth Kee highlighted that Teo voluntarily decided to take the drugs.
“While moral blameworthiness can and should be ascribed to the victim for introducing the accused to drugs”, this did not lessen Teo’s culpability, he said.
“Furthermore, as an adult of considerable age, the accused had free will in deciding whether to accept the victim’s initial offer of drugs,” added Mr Kee.
The punishment for voluntarily causing hurt with dangerous means or weapons is imprisonment for up to 10 years, a fine, caning, or a combination of the three.
Furthermore, Teo could have been imprisoned for up to 10 years and fined up to S$20,000 for consuming methamphetamine.
Sentence too short
Netizens found Teo’s sentence too short for such a violent act.
“One year ten months. If you ever wondered why there were so many violent offences with dangerous weapons lately, look no further,” said Facebook user Benny Nasirelli.
“For that only one year and ten months. While drug offenders carry at least four years or more plus caning,” said Facebook user Lynette Frugtniet.
Others wondered what happened to the victim who was in possession of the drugs in the first place.
“What happened to the victim, victim should be charged in court, too,” commented a Facebook user Steven Low. /TISG