Teen who stabbed father to death in Loyang condo sentenced to 5 years' detention

SINGAPORE — A teenage boy who stabbed his father to death in a Loyang condominium in 2020 was sentenced on Monday (Jan 24) to five years’ detention after he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

He had stabbed the 49-year-old man with a fruit knife in a fit of rage after the man blamed him for throwing away a laundry detergent scoop.

The boy, now 15, suffers from autism spectrum disorder, although a psychiatrist found that his mental condition did not have any causal or contributory link to his crime. 

The High Court heard that the boy had a difficult relationship with his father — whom he thought was highly controlling — and had harboured thoughts of killing the man.

The teenager cannot be named under the Children and Young Persons Act (CYPA), which bans the publication of the identities of young offenders under age 18.

He was previously charged with murder on Dec 11, 2020 — the day of the incident. The offence carries the death penalty for adults and life imprisonment for those below 18. 

Under the CYPA, a young person convicted of grave crimes such as culpable homicide not amounting to murder may be dealt a sentence deemed appropriate by the courts.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Lim Shin Hui told the court that the authorities intend to continue detaining the boy at the Singapore Boys’ Home until he completes his O-Level exams, before he is transferred to prison where he can attend prison school for his A- or N-Level education.

MENTAL CONDITIONS

The court heard that the boy was diagnosed with pervasive development disorder, now termed as autism, when he was nearly two years’ old.

He was enrolled in Pathlight School — an autism-focused special needs school — in Primary 1 but was transferred to a mainstream school shortly after as he was deemed to be sufficiently high functioning.

In 2018, he was referred to the National Addictions Management Service at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) over concerns about the amount of time he was spending on computer games. He was diagnosed as having an internet gaming disorder.

However, DPP Lim said that he did not have any disciplinary problems in school.

She told the court that the boy's father had limited his access to his handphone and to computer games, and also made him do the laundry, homework and assessment books regularly. 

His father closely monitored the boy and would hit and swear at him whenever he failed to follow instructions, DPP Lim said.

Eventually, the boy started harbouring thoughts of killing his father in June 2020 when his father forbade him from playing computer games for a month, but did not tell anyone or acted on these thoughts.

MISSING DETERGENT SCOOP

On the morning of Dec 11, 2020, the boy’s father became agitated when he could not find the scoop for the laundry detergent and asked the boy if he had hid it. 

The boy became angry and denied doing so, but nevertheless helped his father scoop the detergent with his hands.

Later as he returned to his room, he began having thoughts of killing his father “so that he would be free of (him)”, DPP Lim said.

He went to the kitchen and grabbed a 9.5cm-long fruit knife and hid it in his pocket as he returned to his room.

Later, his father confronted him again over the missing detergent scoop and told his younger brother that the boy had thrown it away.

Angry at being falsely accused, he went back to him room and fumed over how his father was too strict and had limited his leisure time.

At about 10.10am, he went to the kitchen where his father and his younger brother were crouched at the laundry area with their backs turned towards him.

The boy took the fruit knife from his pocket and stabbed his father once on the left side of his neck.

As his father screamed, the boy placed the knife in the sink and ran back to his room and locked the door.

His father was able to walk to the living room and sat on a chair while the younger brother called for an ambulance and called the mother, who was away at work.

The older boy came out of his room shortly after and apologised profusely to his father and his younger brother, and helped to stop his father’s bleeding by applying pressure to his wound with a towel.

However, his father soon fell unconscious and collapsed on the floor.

Paramedics arrived at about 10.21am but were unable to resuscitate the boy’s father, who was later pronounced dead at Changi General Hospital. 

The boy admitted to the police at the flat that he had stabbed his father and was arrested at the scene.

PSYCHIATRIST'S ASSESSMENT

An IMH psychiatrist, who assessed the boy after his arrest, diagnosed him with autism spectrum disorder and noted that he had obsessive compulsive traits, but considered the boy to be high functioning as he could complete his primary education in a mainstream school. 

The doctor found that both conditions did not have causal or contributory links to the offence as he had sufficient maturity to judge the nature and consequences of his crime.

He assessed that the boy’s risk of violent reoffending is low.

TRAGIC CASE ‘DECIMATED’ FAMILY: DEFENCE

DPP Lim asked the judge to sentence the boy to five to seven years’ detention, noting that there are no precedents where the courts have sentenced an offender to be detained under CYPA for committing homicide.

The boy’s lawyer Shashi Nathan asked for three to five years, saying that the boy has expressed remorse for his actions and has been in detention since his arrest.

The CYPA does not allow for the term of detention to be backdated to when an offender was first detained.

“The last time I saw him in the Boys’ Home, his last words to me were: ‘Uncle Shashi, I miss my papa’,” Mr Shashi said.

He said that the family has been very badly affected by the case. The younger brother even stopped speaking for some time out of shock, and the boy’s mother had to go through cancer surgery shortly after the incident.

“It was one tragedy after another,” Mr Shashi said. “I think both sides recognised that this is an extremely tragic case — decimated the family.” 

Mr Shashi said that the boy has responded well to detention since his arrest. His mother and younger brother also now visit him every week.

He added that he is now acting for the family pro-bono after his mother depleted her savings.

Urging the court to be merciful and compassionate, Mr Shashi said: “The reality of the present case is that any punishment imposed on (him) will only further add to the pain and sorrow of the victim and the family members.”

In passing the sentence, Justice Aedit Abdullah said that rehabilitation was an important objective to consider given the boy's young age and immaturity. 

A period shorter than five years, he said, will not allow sufficient rehabilitation and reform. But a sentence as long as seven years will mean that the boy will effectively be serving eight years in all when taking into consideration when he was first remanded.

“One has no doubt that a great burden of regret will remain on the accused and the surviving family members for the rest of their lives,” he said. 

“But even amid that sadness, the law must still be vindicated by the courts, findings made and punishment imposed.”