Although the man had a troubled marriage, he flew into a rage when he saw his wife behaving intimately at home with another man. In a fit of jealousy, he attacked the man with a knife, slashing him and causing his abdomen to rupture and his intestines to spill out. On Thursday (May 15), he was sentenced to two years and 10 weeks in jail.
The violent slashing incident occurred at 6am on January 25, 2011, inside a flat at Block 418, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10, reported Zaobao.
The accused, Zhang Lai Cai (transliterated), is now 61 years old and was 46 at the time. He faced four charges, including voluntarily causing hurt with a weapon, and offences under the Immigration and Customs Acts. The victim is a 50-year-old local Chinese man.
According to court documents, the victim had been drinking at a coffeeshop in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 around midnight with his daughter, as well as the accused’s wife and daughter. About an hour later, the group returned to the wife’s flat to continue drinking.
At around 3am, the accused’s 20-year-old son got into an argument with his mother after seeing her behaving intimately with the victim. The mother then kicked him, his fiancée, and their two-month-old baby out of the house.
The son called his father to report what had happened. Living in a rental unit in Toa Payoh at the time, the accused wrapped a kitchen knife in newspaper, tucked it into his waistband, and went to meet his son.
They returned to the flat together, forced open the bedroom door, and saw the accused’s wife lying in bed with the victim. Without warning, the accused started slashing the victim in the chest and abdomen, inflicting deep wounds that caused the victim’s intestines to protrude.
After the slashing, the accused and his son fled, disposing of the knife in a nearby block’s rubbish bin and taking a taxi to escape. The accused later paid $1,500 to be smuggled by boat from Changi Point to Malaysia.
He remained at large until October 17, 2023, when he voluntarily returned to Singapore and surrendered himself to the authorities. During investigations, he said he returned because he missed his family.
The victim was rushed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital with stab wounds to the chest and abdomen. He suffered a torn colon lining and a lacerated spleen, but recovered quickly after surgery and was discharged three days later with 15 days of medical leave. A permanent scar remains on his abdomen.
In mitigation, the defence lawyer said the accused panicked after seeing blood and fled in fear of the consequences. Now remorseful, he had returned voluntarily and turned himself in. The defence requested a lighter sentence of 14 months and 3 weeks.
However, due to other offences such as smuggling cigarettes, the judge sentenced him to two years and 10 weeks’ imprisonment.
