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An 86-year-old man admitted to killing his 79-year-old female partner of almost 60 years for not allowing him to sleep in a bigger room she had saved for their children.
Pak Kian Huat pleaded guilty after his initial murder charge was downgraded to culpable homicide and was sentenced to 15 years in jail on May 22, 2023.
Star-crossed lovers
Court documents reveal that Pak and Lim first met in the 1950s as teenagers.
He was a shipyard worker while she was a housekeeper.
They couldn't date officially for a decade as her mother didn't approve of him.
Her mother only accepted him after they had their first child in 1963.
However, they were never married.
Abused her and the children
They lived together in a flat in Whampoa and had four children over eight years.
Pak had a bad temper. He abused Lim and sometimes even took it out on the children.
The children encouraged Lim to leave with the eldest daughter in 1980 to avoid Pak, while the rest continued living with him.
Pak cared for the three children who stayed, but they eventually moved out over the years as they had their own families.
More than two decades later, the last child staying with Pak also wanted to move out.
He didn't want to be lonely
Pak didn't want to live alone, so he reconnected with Lim and asked to move into her four-room Toa Payoh flat.
Lim agreed, and Pak gave her S$400 to S$500 monthly with the earnings from renting his flat.
They lived together in separate bedrooms for 15 years without incident.
Pak usually lived in a smaller bedroom while the two larger bedrooms were occupied by Lim and reserved for their children whenever they occasionally returned home to stay.
Blamed illness on "small bedroom"
Two months before the fateful day, their eldest son returned to Singapore and stayed with them in July 2019. He left Singapore again in August and planned to return on Sep. 1, 2019.
On Aug. 26, 2019, Pak said he was down with the flu and had a bad cough and wanted to move into the bigger bedroom reserved for their children as he felt the dustiness in the small bedroom caused his illness.
He complained to his other children that Lim refused to let him move over as the eldest son was returning to Singapore soon.
Their second son explained to Pak that his illness was likely because of his age rather than the condition of the room but, along with his sister, persuaded Lim to let Pak stay in the bigger room until the eldest son was back.
She wanted to leave bigger bedroom for son
The night before their son's return, Pak asked Lim if he could continue to live in the bigger room.
Lim rejected his request and asked him to return to bed.
Pak brooded over the issue as he felt that moving back to the smaller bedroom would worsen his condition.
He grew angrier as the night wore on.
Tragic ending
The following morning at 3:30am, Pak went to Lim's bedroom with a chopper.
Lim woke up and asked what Pak wanted.
He replied in Hokkien, “li ai wa si, wa buay sai hor li wa” (which is translated to mean if she wanted him to die, he would not allow her to live).
He then used the chopper to hack her 54 times until she stopped screaming.
Put on shoes because floor was slippery with blood
The floor was slippery from her blood, so he went to the living to put on a pair of socks and sneakers.
He then returned to the room and checked on Lim, who was no longer moving.
He called one of his children and told them he had killed their mother, asking them to call the police.
After informing his children, Pak washed his bloody hands and drank water.
"I am glad I am able to kill her"
When the police arrived, he opened the door and admitted he had killed Lim.
Pak told the officers he suspected he did not father some children, and Lim wanted him dead.
He added in Mandarin, "I am glad that I am able to kill her, I almost failed to kill her.”
The prosecution pointed out that Pak had often made the same baseless allegations over the years.
Shockingly vicious killing over a trivial issue: Prosecution
The prosecution sought a sentence of 15 to 18 years imprisonment.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Dillon Kok emphasised that violence in the domestic setting is particularly abhorrent,
"Where an offender turns the sanctity of a home into a place of horror, the resultant punishment must necessarily be severe."
He also described the killing as "shockingly vicious" and a "blatant disregard for human life".
The DPP also pointed out that Pak "coldheartedly" put on a sock and sneakers immediately after the killing as he was concerned he might fall, which reflects his inherent selfishness and complete disregard for the deceased.
Age should not matter
The prosecution also argued that Pak's age should not warrant a lesser sentence.
"By his cruel acts, the accused had ended the life of a partner with whom he had lived with for a large part of his life. She is survived by her children and grandchildren who continue to bear the pain of their loss. Despite the accused’s age, his heinous crime must be met with severe punishment even if he must live out his remaining years in prison."
High court judge: Wicked intent
Justice See Kee Oon agreed that the "senseless attack on a defenceless victim was "deliberately and unspeakably vicious and brutal".
He added that the attack was "relentless and intense", while Pak had "no hint of remorse or compunction" even after the police arrived.
See pointed out that Pak's defence counsel strongly urged the court to consider that Pak had "acted out of character, with an irrational, disproportionate and misjudged response", unlike other offenders who committed the offences “out of a purely wicked intent alone”.
However, See disagreed,
"With respect, however, I am unable to see what else his intent could properly be described as, if not wicked."
No mental disorder
See explained that although Pak may have been "fuelled by rage", he was not delusional and "set out to kill the victim because of his self-induced and wholly misplaced perception of grievance".
See emphasised that Pak's IMH report concluded that Pak was not suffering from any mental disorder.
He added that Pak "set out to kill the victim because of his self-induced and wholly misplaced perception of grievance".
While See agreed that Pak is elderly, he explained that being of advanced age is not mitigating where the offence is heinous and could have involved life imprisonment.
See also had "little doubt" that Pak is unlikely to reoffend but agreed that retribution and deterrence are necessary.
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