• Neo Hong Wei, 23, had been off his medication for psychotic disorder for three days
• He slashed a 27-year-old woman, targeting her head and body, before turning the knife on himself
• Other passers-by and an off-duty policeman who heard her screams subdued him
• A psychiatrist found that Neo still poses a “significant risk” of violence and danger towards others
• He will be sentenced at a later date

SINGAPORE — After not taking his medication for three days, Neo Hong Wei thought of attacking someone so that he would feel happy and not have to live his life in misery.

Armed with a kitchen knife from his Chua Chu Kang flat, he slashed a 27-year-old female passer-by in broad daylight, then eventually slashed his own forearm in a car park.

Videos of the incident later circulated online and the police received at least 11 calls from members of the public who had witnessed the incident.

Neo, a 23-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty on Tuesday (March 23) to one count of voluntarily causing hurt to the woman with a dangerous weapon. He has been in remand since the incident.

A psychiatrist from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) found that Neo had a psychotic disorder and possibly suffers from schizophrenia, though the precise nature of his psychotic mental illness remains unconfirmed. Even so, he was able to know right from wrong.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that on Sept 29 last year, Neo felt very stressed and thought of “doing something bad”. He also thought he might feel better if he committed a crime.

He then took a kitchen knife with a 17cm-long blade from his kitchen and left home.

Around noon, he came across the victim at an open-air car park near Block 412 Chua Chu Kang Avenue 3. She had been walking towards Lot One Shoppers’ Mall when Neo approached her and brandished the knife he was holding.

Sensing something was amiss, she ran away but Neo chased after her. When she tripped and fell, he swung the knife at her head and body repeatedly, slashing her as she tried to block the blows.

She managed to get up after a while and ran away, screaming for help as Neo pursued her.

An off-duty police officer, who was at home nearby, heard her screams and saw Neo chasing after her. He rushed downstairs immediately.

Another passer-by who had just driven into the car park wound down his car window and told Neo to drop the weapon.

The police officer, Third Sergeant Ezekiel Letchumanan K Saminadan, borrowed a hoe from a nearby construction site and approached Neo, identifying himself as a police officer and telling him to put the knife down.

He also asked the car driver to tell Neo this in Mandarin, and got members of the public nearby to call the police.

As the officer told Neo, “Put down, put down”, Neo shouted, “Why?” He then began slashing his forearm, sustaining two superficial cuts in the process.

The officer grabbed Neo’s wrist and managed to subdue him with help from others. They disarmed him and tied him up with a rope, before more officers arrived and arrested him.

The victim was taken to National University Hospital. Neo’s attack left her with multiple cuts and abrasions over her body and scalp.

Police officers who arrived at the scene noted that she was visibly distressed and had dried blood all over her face.

She was discharged in a stable condition and was unable to walk for about two weeks after the incident due to her injuries. She was also given an appointment with a medical social worker to look out for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

STILL A DANGER TO OTHERS?

In Neo’s IMH report dated October last year, Dr Stephen Phang said that if left to his own devices, he was unlikely to comply with prescribed psychiatric treatment.

He was not of unsound mind at the time and his capacity to exercise the right judgement “may have been attenuated by virtue of his acute psychotic state”, the psychiatrist added.

Dr Phang further found that Neo “represents a significant risk of further interpersonal violence and dangerousness towards others at present”.

However, District Judge May Mesenas asked for Neo to undergo another medical examination, in order to better understand his medical condition and if it had any contributory link to his offences.

Neo’s lawyers — Mr Josephus Tan and Mr Cory Wong from Invictus Law Corporation — told the court that when they visited him in Changi Prison, he was remanded with the general population and not placed in isolation.

“We have certain concerns as to the current validity of the (IMH) report. So a further clarification report could shed some light on whether he poses a danger to himself or to the public,” Mr Tan added.

Both the prosecution and defence did not make submissions on sentencing in light of this.

Neo will return to court on April 5.

He could be jailed for up to seven years, fined, caned, or receive any combination of the three.