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A man who stabbed his daughter 17 times near a Marsiling bus stop in Singapore with the intention to kill her was handed a 15-year jail term on Friday, Nov. 5, reported CNA.

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Shoo Ah San, a 65-year-old Malaysian, crossed the border into Singapore to do so in January 2020, after assuming she had sold the family home in Malaysia.

He had pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Nov. 2, to one count of attempted murder, with a second charge of possessing an offensive weapon in public considered for sentencing.

Decision for sentencing

Earlier in court, the prosecution sought a jail term of between 16 and 18 years for Shoo, noting that the attack was premeditated and comprehensive.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhou Yang also pointed out that Shoo stabbed his daughter a second time when he realised she was alive after his first stabbing attack.

However, Shoo's defence lawyers sought a jail term of 10 years for him instead.

They pointed out that Shoo was a "very lonely father figure" separated from the rest of his family. They also pointed to his old age as justification for a shorter sentence.

CNA reported that on Nov. 5, Justice Aedit Abdullah stated in his sentencing that substantial harm had been caused to Shoo's daughter during the attack.

Medical reports dated February and March 2020 noted that the victim suffered "potentially life-threatening and fatal injuries", including a collapsed lung.

The judge also pointed out that the attack had occurred along a street in the morning, causing harm to public peace.

He said that all citizens should be able to walk along the streets in peace regardless of the time of day, and those who breach this peace by attempting to kill can only expect to be severely punished.

The judge rejected the defence counsel's argument that Shoo's age be taken into account for a shorter sentence. However, no additional jail term was meted out in lieu of caning – Shoo cannot be caned as he is above 50.

Recap of events

Shoo had a distant relationship with his children, which was reportedly further strained over the disputed ownership of a house in Taman Perling, Johor Bahru.

The house had been purchased in his eldest daughter's name in 2000, as Shoo was an "undischarged bankrupt", and his elder son was below 21 years old.

In early 2019, Shoo — who had returned home after working in Melaka — became upset after seeing that his family home had been refurbished. He assumed that it had been sold. 

He then harboured thoughts of killing his eldest daughter, 42, in Jun. 2019, and planned to kill himself afterwards by jumping off the block of flats in Singapore where she stayed.

He blamed his eldest daughter as the "mastermind" behind the sale of the family house and for "making him homeless".

The tipping point came sometime in Jan. 16, 2020, after Shoo's girlfriend asked him to move out of her house. Shoo then decided to carry out his plan to enter Singapore and kill his daughter.

On Jan. 17, 2020 at about 3:56am, he entered Singapore on his motorcycle, via the Causeway.

As the victim was walking alone along Marsiling Lane towards a bus stop, Shoo ran towards her, and uttered in Cantonese, “You all harm me very miserably”, and stabbed her shoulder, upper chest, shoulder blade, and back with a knife with a 10-cm serrated blade.

He had aimed his first stab at her neck with the intent to kill, but she managed to block off the attack.

He then fled as he heard someone approaching, but attacked her again a second time when he saw that she was still alive.

He only stopped when he saw blood flowing from his daughter's mouth, and proceeded to ride off on his motorcycle.

Shoo was arrested five days later at a coffee shop on Jan. 22, after an island-wide manhunt by police.

Court documents stated that Shoo was found to have no mental illness nor intellectual disability when assessed by the Institute of Mental Health.

Shoo's daughter underwent physiotherapy until June 2021, and remains wary whenever she waits at the same bus stop for her company bus. She also prefers to stand at the bus stop, as she feels that it would be easier to run away "should there be trouble".

For attempted murder, Shoo could have been sentenced to life imprisonment and caning, or imprisonment for a term up to 20 years and a fine, caning, or both.

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