Yishun fatal assault trial: Neighbour of accused says ‘stalker’ punched his elderly mother

SINGAPORE — Shawn Ignatius Rodrigues had purportedly been loitering around a block of flats in Yishun since 2014 — more than two years before he was involved in a scuffle with a group of neighbours that culminated in his death.

This emerged from the testimony of a long-time Yishun resident during a trial on Wednesday (Feb 12).

The resident, Mr Ur Kok Seng, said that Rodrigues would occasionally “walk back and forth” along the common corridor of the sixth floor and knock on the front door of the corner unit.

When Rodrigues did it again on July 5, 2016, Mr Ur’s mother told him off but he retaliated by punching the elderly woman twice, Mr Ur said.

Mr Ur's mother was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and given outpatient treatment. The punches were “not very forceful” and she was not hospitalised, he added.

Four days later, Mr Ur saw Rodrigues lying face down on the ground at a lift lobby landing with two men on top of him. There was a “small pool of blood” on the ground near Rodrigues’ face, Mr Ur said.

The two men — Ryan Xavier Tay Seet Choong, now 24, and his stepfather Lawrence Lim Peck Beng, now 58 — are standing trial in a district court for causing grievous hurt to Rodrigues. The 26-year-old was a full-time national serviceman (NSF) when he died on July 9, 2016.

Tay knew Rodrigues from church and both had filed numerous police reports against each other. In past media reports, Tay’s sister claimed that Rodrigues had been stalking their family for more than two years before the incident.

Tay and Lim are accused of assaulting Rodrigues so violently that he eventually died at the scene from traumatic asphyxia with head injury.

The incident took place at the fifth floor staircase landing of Block 279, Yishun Street 22. Lim and Tay lived in the sixth floor corner unit, while Mr Ur lived on the same floor.

Tay, also an NSF then, has been charged with stamping on Rodrigues’ shoulder, punching his face and head numerous times, forcefully pushing his face to the ground and pressing his knee on Rodrigues’ back for about 20 minutes.

Lim is said to have abetted Tay and fractured Rodrigues’ nose and eye socket during the assault.

Rodrigues’ legs were bound with pink raffia string, some police officers who had been called to the scene that evening testified on Tuesday.

Another piece of white string was tied to Rodrigues’ right hand, then tied to the pink string, the officers added.

NEIGHBOURS TIED HIM UP

A married couple living on the 12th floor also took the stand on Wednesday, describing how they helped to tie Rodrigues up.

In a statement to the police that was read out in court, Madam Foo Wai Kheng said that she came across Tay and Lim holding Rodrigues down at the lift lobby landing that evening.

She was heading up to her flat when the lift door opened for other passengers on the sixth floor.

When she stepped out of the lift to see what had happened, Lim told her in Mandarin that Rodrigues had molested his wife. Tay said Rodrigues had beaten up an elderly neighbour and asked her to look for rope to tie Rodrigues up, so he could not escape.

Mdm Foo said that she returned home, gave her husband some pink raffia string from their storeroom and told him to help out.

Upon questioning by Lim’s lawyer Ang Sin Teck, Mdm Foo testified in Mandarin that Rodrigues was “moving a bit” at first while he was being tied up.

Mdm Foo’s husband, Mr Lim Hock Piou, told the court that his wife had “insisted” that he help Lim and Tay. So he took the pink raffia string from his flat, which he used to bind Rodrigues’ legs, while another neighbour tied white string to his hand.

Rodrigues was “still resisting” at this point, Mr Lim told the court.

The trial continues on Thursday, with Rodrigues’ psychotherapist and psychologist set to take the stand.