Man jailed 3 months for poking neighbour's chest with samurai sword

SINGAPORE — A 66-year-old man who poked his neighbour in his chest with a samurai sword had received the weapon from a well-wisher three decades ago and displayed it in his home, his lawyer told a district court.

And he had intended to use it to scare his neighbour because he thought the latter was staring at him and he was agitated after he was unable to pay for a medical appointment earlier, the lawyer added. 

On Tuesday (Oct 22), Ler Hock Chye was sentenced to three months’ jail after pleading guilty to causing hurt and being armed with an offensive instrument.

The court heard that on June 14 last year, Ler and Mr Ong Kim Hoe, 63, crossed paths at their Marsiling block of flats. They did not speak to each other, but when Ler perceived that Mr Ong was staring, he decided to go home and retrieve the sword to scare him.

He walked to the void deck with the sword behind his back and approached Mr Ong, who was sitting on a bench, to ask why he was following him.

Ler suddenly swung the sword — which had a 47cm-long blade — to the front and poked Mr Ong once in the chest. The other man quickly got up and Ler swung the weapon at his upper torso.

Mr Ong managed to dodge it and Ler asked why he was unhappy and what he wanted. Mr Ong then called the police.

All this was captured on closed-circuit television footage.

Police officers seized the sword from Ler when they arrested him. Mr Ong received treatment for a superficial puncture wound on his chest later that day.

In mitigation, Ler’s lawyer Tang Gee Ni said that the sword was one of a pair that he had received when he was the secretary of a pugilistic association. After the association was disbanded in 1992, Ler displayed the swords in his home, the lawyer added.

As for why he committed the offence, Mr Tang told the court that he had been agitated by a failed withdrawal of S$750 half an hour earlier — a grant under the Silver Support Scheme for elderly low-income Singaporeans. He thus could not pay for a medical appointment.

“His intention was merely to scare the victim, but he poked him once in the chest. He immediately realised that what he did was wrong,” Mr Tang said.

When Ler was charged in March, one of his four sons was found dead but the cause of death could not be determined as the body was decomposed, the lawyer added, without elaborating.

District Judge Ong Chin Rhu ordered the sword to be given to the police to be disposed of.

For causing hurt, Ler could have been jailed for up to two years, fined up to S$5,000 or both. For being armed with an offensive instrument, he could have been jailed for up to two years.