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A man stabbed his daughter 17 times near a Marsiling bus stop in Singapore with the intention to kill her after assuming that she had sold the family home in Malaysia.

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.

He blamed Shoo Suet Lian, 42, who is his eldest daughter, as the "mastermind" behind the sale of the house, and for "making him homeless".

Shoo 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, reported CNA.

Background on Shoo

According to court documents, Shoo worked as a lorry driver in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, at the time of offence.

He is a widower as his wife passed away in 1992 due to illness, and has three daughters, including the victim, and two sons.

However, he had a distant relationship with his children.

This was reportedly further strained over the disputed ownership of a house in Taman Perling, Johor Bahru.

House dispute

Shoo had initially rented the family house, where he resided with three of his children.

In 2000, the house was purchased in the victim's name as Shoo was an "undischarged bankrupt", and his elder son, Shoo Chee Seng was below 21-years-old.

While it was his elder son who contributed to the purchase of the house, and helped in servicing of the monthly mortgage, Shoo claimed to have paid for the home.

He added that the house was registered in the victim's name only because he was "not allowed to own a second property in Malaysia".

In 2007, Shoo moved out of the house to work in Malacca, but still returned to the house from time to time.

However, the elder son changed the locks of the house to keep Shoo away in 2016, after he caused disruption such as removing the ancestral tablet from the family home.

Wrote about intention to kill his children

In early 2019, Shoo broke into the house.

He wrote on the walls and mirrors with red paint that the victim was unfilial, and of his intention to kill his children.

At this point, the elder son arranged to meet Shoo to talk about the house, but Shoo did not turn up.

Sometime in March 2019, Shoo's children then decided to refurbish and sell the house, to avoid further trouble from Shoo.

However, he became upset when he saw the refurbished home, and assumed it had been sold.

He blamed the victim as the key instigator of the whole affair, and also begrudged her for not giving him living expenses.

He harboured thoughts of killing the victim from June 2019, and planned to kill himself afterwards, by jumping off the block of flats in Singapore where she stayed.

Shoo's eldest daughter, a Singapore permanent resident, lives with her husband at Marsiling Lane.

The stabbing

The tipping point came sometime in Jan. 16, 2020, when Shoo's girlfriend asked him to move out of her house.

With no place to stay, Shoo decided to carry out his plan to enter Singapore and kill his eldest daughter.

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

He rode to the victim's residence, and parked at a nearby car park to wait for her to head to work as he did not know her unit address.

At about 5:03am, Shoo saw the victim walking alone along Marsiling Lane towards a bus stop.

He then ran towards her, 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.

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

Shoo then fled in the opposite direction towards his motorcycle, as he sensed someone was approaching.

The daughter shouted for help and ran across the road to a grass patch, where a passer-by who was walking to the bus stop saw her.

The passer-by called for an ambulance upon seeing blood on the victim.

Stabbed daughter a second time

As Shoo exited the car park on his motorcycle, he saw his eldest daughter seated at the grass verge with the passer-by attending to her.

Shoo then alighted from his motorcycle, rushed towards her and exclaimed in Cantonese, “You have not died? Then I will die.”

He stabbed the victim a second time with the same knife on her chest, upper arm, and abdomen.

He only stopped when he saw blood flowing from his daughter's mouth, then rode off on his motorcycle.

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

The victim also underwent physiotherapy until June 2021.

She remains wary whenever she waits at the same bus stop for her company bus, and now prefers standing at the bus stop, as she feels that it would be easier to run away "should there be trouble".

She also avoids the path where she was attacked and often makes detours to get home.

Looked for elder son

After the attack on his eldest daughter, Shoo remained in Singapore to look for his elder son.

He was, however, unable to locate him with success.

Shoo was arrested five days later at a coffee shop near his son's workplace on Jan. 22, after an island-wide manhunt by police.

According to court documents, officers recovered the knife which had been used to attack Shoo's daughter, as well as notes alleging the "lack of filial piety" of his children, which Shoo had wanted to carry with him in his planned suicide.

No mental illness nor intellectual disability

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

According to CNA, the prosecution sought between 16 and 18 years' jail for Shoo, noting that the attack was premeditated and comprehensive.

Shoo had also stabbed his daughter a second time once he realised she was alive, pointed out Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhou Yang.

However, Shoo's defence lawyers sought 10 years' jail for him instead, adding that the case portrayed Shoo as a "very lonely father figure" separated from the rest of his family, without a home.

They also pointed to Shoo's old age as relevant for sentence reduction.

CNA reported that the defence counsel explained that a sentence of 16 years' would mean life imprisonment for Shoo, as the average man's life expectancy in Malaysia is 74, and 81 in Singapore.

The prosecution rebutted this statement by quoting the average life expectancy in Lesotho, which is 54.

They added that the defence's argument would mean that every citizen there be given lenient sentences.

Shoo's sentencing is expected to be delivered on Friday, Nov. 5.

Penalties for those found guilty of attempted murder are life imprisonment and caning, or imprisonment for a term up to 20 years and a fine, caning, or both.

As Shoo is above 50, he cannot be caned, according to Singapore law.

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Top images via Andrew Koay and Unsplash