85-year-old Pak Kian Huat, allegedly hacked his long-time partner to death following a dispute over room arrangements.
He was unrepresented in court after his lawyer had discharged himself from the case, and reportedly disrupted court proceedings into his case on 23 September yesterday, according to The Straits Times.
He was originally charged with murder but it has since been reduced to culpable homicide, for the killing of 79-year-old Lim Soi Moy in their flat at Block 191 Toa Payoh Lorong 4, back in 1 September 2019.
Wanted the death sentence
Pak was supposed to plead guilty to his amended charge, but then told his lawyer that he wanted the death sentence.
Pak was then asked by the court for clarification, and he explained that the sentence of 7 years that his lawyer was seeking was too long, and wanted a jail term of up to 5 years instead – while the prosecution was seeking imprisonment of 15 to 18 years.
Pak also challenged the claims that there were 54 wounds on the victim’s body, and was asked by the court if he had counted; to which he said he didn’t but that he “couldn’t have hacked (the victim) so many times”.
Justice Aedit Abdullah then told him off, saying “you are not in a coffee shop, you are in a courtroom. You will behave with the proper decorum”.
Background
Pak and the victim first met in the 1950s, and got into a relationship after a decade because the victim’s mother disapproved of their relationship.
They didn’t get married, but lived together and had 4 children who are in their 50s now.
The two lived in a 4-room flat from 2004 onwards, of which there were three bedrooms, with two of them being bigger in size.
Of the two bigger-sized bedrooms, the victim took one of the rooms, while the other room was for their elder son and elder daughter who are based overseas and for when they returned to Singapore.
The smaller room was taken by Pak, but he slept in the larger room whenever his children were overseas and not around.
Pak complained to his younger son on 26 August 2019, about the victim not letting him move into the larger room that was reserved for their elder children.
They later came to an agreement that Pak was allowed to stay in the room, but has to move back to his room before 1 September 2019 when the elder son returns to Singapore.
The victim later allegedly rejected Pak’s request to continue living in the larger room after their elder son returned.
Pak then took a chopper from the kitchen in the early hours of 1 September and attacked Lim, allegedly hacking her to death.