Neighbour who intervened to stop hammer attack suffers blow to head, racist abuse; offender gets 2 weeks' jail

SINGAPORE — After drinking six or seven cans of beer in his flat late one afternoon, Teo Pi Liang got into a row with one of his neighbours and armed himself with a hammer.

Wielding the weapon above his head, he charged at the neighbour in the common corridor and tried to strike him on the head but finished up hitting the head of a second neighbour who stepped in to help.

Instead of apologising, Teo began uttering racially and religiously charged vulgarities towards the victim and his family. The victim suffered a mild head injury.

On Thursday (Jan 26), Teo, 38, was sentenced to two weeks’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to one charge of causing hurt by committing a rash act.

One charge of wounding the racial feelings of a person and one charge of using criminal force were taken into consideration in sentencing.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that at about 7.30pm on Aug 31 last year, Teo’s neighbours, Mr Ng Seng Li, 61, and Mr R Ravi, 59, heard loud banging sounds coming from the inside of Teo’s home. The location of his and their homes was not disclosed in court documents.

Out of concern, Mr Ng called the mobile phone of Teo's father to check on the family.

Teo picked up the phone and raised his voice demanding to know who the caller was. Mr Ng apologised and hung up.

About half an hour later, Teo returned the call and began swearing at Mr Ng and his family.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Huo Jiongrui said that Mr Ng, shocked and angered, went to the common corridor outside Teo’s home, while shouting through the phone asking Teo to come out “or else he would speak to the accused’s parents”.

Teo then came out of his house, appearing intoxicated and reeking of alcohol. At the same time, the other neighbour, Mr Ravi, also stepped out of his home.

Without warning, Teo held the hammer above his head and ran towards Mr Ng and swung it towards his neighbour's head.

Mr Ng ducked and Mr Ravi intervened by grabbing Teo’s upper arm. However, as Mr Ravi's forearm and elbow were free, Teo continued swinging the hammer downward, hitting the top left part of Mr Ravi’s head.

Mr Ng and his son then subdued and disarmed Teo, while two of Mr Ravi’s sons also helped them to hold down Teo.

While being held down, Teo began shouting vulgarities, “many of which were racially and religiously charged and directed at Ravi and his family”, DPP Huo said. 

Teo also spat at one of Mr Ravi’s sons, and continued shouting racially and religiously charged insults at his family even after the police’s arrival.

As his head continued to hurt the next day, Mr Ravi went to a hospital’s emergency department. He was given five days’ medical leave and diagnosed with a mild head injury.

Teo was remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric observation, where a doctor concluded that he was intoxicated at the time of the offence.

“Although (Teo) has a background of major depressive disorder with grief reaction, there was no contributory link to the offence,” DPP Huo said.

Seeking a jail sentence of one to two weeks, the prosecution noted that a dangerous weapon was used in the “one-sided” attack.

And although the neighbours had subdued and disarmed Teo, they did not attack or injure him in the process, DPP Huo argued in his written submissions.

He further argued that Teo was “utterly unremorseful” after the attack, noting how he had spewed vulgarities “aimed at harming the racial and religious feelings of” the victim and his family.

Pleading leniency, Teo, who was not represented by a lawyer, said that he was really remorseful over his actions.

He told the court that he was intoxicated and was grieving the death of his aunt at the time of the incident.

Teo also told the court that he had quit binge-drinking and has been taking medication for his condition.

For causing hurt by committing a rash act, Teo could have been imprisoned for up to a year or fined not more than S$5,000, or given a combination of both sentences.