SINGAPORE — An 82-year-old man with acute paranoia was on Monday (April 25) sentenced to eight years’ jail for killing his daughter-in-law in August 2014.

In sentencing Char Chin Fah for committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder, Justice Woo Bih Li said this was an offence which would “ordinarily” effect a long-term imprisonment. “The only reason why I’ve experienced some hesitation ... is your advanced age,” he told Char.

The High Court heard that the accused had been living with his son, Char Yeng Kong, and daughter-in-law Ong Guat Leng in Tampines for about two years.

Char had an acrimonious relationship with them, and frequently complained about Ong to his other two children. He felt that his daughter-in-law, then 54, was disrespectful towards him, and would frequently nag at and belittle him. In turn, his family members described Char as difficult to live with, often putting his dirty socks on the dining table and leaving the toilet door open when urinating.

Such behaviour annoyed Ong, who had an anxiety disorder. Her family living in the Tampines flat, which included Ong’s son and her sister, observed that she would often nag and repeat herself whenever she felt agitated, due to her condition.

On Aug 20, 2014, Char had a spat with his son and Ong over the washing of the curtains which partitioned a small space in the living room as his sleeping quarters. He then decided to kill his daughter-in-law.

The next morning at a nearby coffee shop, he wrote a suicide note for his daughter, telling her that he had done “something big” and wanted her to settle his personal matters. After that, Char drank a bottle of beer “to gather more courage”, and waited for the rest of the flat’s occupants, apart from Ong, to leave for work.

At around 9am, he went home, armed with a black metal pole. He picked up a kitchen knife measuring around 32cm and went into Ong’s bedroom, where he grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the wall several times, and attacked her with the knife. Ong begged for forgiveness, but Char did not relent.

An autopsy later found that she had four stab wounds to the chest — two of which pierced her heart and lung. Char said he knew exactly where her heart was, due to a documentary that he had watched. She also had multiple skull fractures, bruises and abrasions.

The black metal pole was found dented, with reddish-brown stains along its length.

After the killing, Char washed up and made his way to his daughter’s house to hand over his personal belongings. He wanted to kill himself, but another son convinced him to go to the police instead.  

Char has since been diagnosed with a baseline paranoid personality, with an acute paranoid reaction at the time of the attack.

Calling for a 10-year jail term, the prosecution argued that Char had planned the attack, deliberately sourced for a weapon, and picked a time frame to kill Ong.

Char’s defence lawyer pleaded for a sentence of five years’ jail, arguing that he had never committed an offence before, and had surrendered himself to the police willingly. His physical condition had deteriorated over the last few years, and his daughter was willing to take him in.

Mulling over these arguments, Justice Woo said: “We can all speak very nobly of how we’re going to take care of father. The reality is that because of his personality, there’s going to be all these tensions. We have to take care of aged parents, however difficult they may be. But what happens when this difficulty now has resulted in a loss of life and may occur again?”