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Frustrated with the slow WiFi, a man confronted his landlady, whipped out a knife that was tucked into the back of his shorts, and dragged her into his room, where he told her he wanted to kill her and her family.

Had a row over slow WiFi

According to court documents, the incident happened in a Bendemeer HDB unit on the night of May 16, 2023.

The man, a 30-year-old Chinese national named Li Xin, was a tenant of the unit.

Li Xin and his 61-year-old landlady were the only ones in the unit at the time of the incident.

He had consumed around six cans of beer and was playing a game on his mobile phone when he decided to confront his landlady and tell her about the slow WiFi.

The pair got into a disagreement over the WiFi and Li Xin pulled out a knife with a 14cm blade from the back of his shorts.

Said he wanted to kill her

He grabbed his landlady's left hand to drag her into his room and slammed her onto the bed.

He kept his knife, tucking it into the back of his shorts, and let go of his landlady's hand in the room and subsequently managed to calm down.

Sometime later, Li Xin accepted a call from another male tenant of the unit.

The landlady heard the male tenant asking Li Xin over the phone if he was done as he had been waiting below the unit for two hours.

Court documents stated that Li Xin had sent two voice messages earlier at 9:07pm and 9:21pm to the tenant to tell him not to return home as he wanted to kill the landlady and everyone who stayed in the unit.

After the call, Li Xin told the landlady that the tenant was not home "because I told him I will be killing all your family and all of you".

Strangled landlady

The tenant returned home shortly after the call and the landlady told him about her row with Li Xin.

She hinted about the knife in his shorts and pointed at it, when Li Xin noticed and flew into a rage.

He charged at her, strangled her neck and pushed her onto the bed without letting go of his hold on her neck.

He only let go after the male tenant pulled him away.

By this time, another tenant, a female, had returned home. The landlady got away from Li Xin and and hid in the female tenant's room.

As the landlady had locked the door, Li Xin pounded on the door and asked her to come out.

The female tenant's employer called the police at around 11:19pm.

Claims to be unaware of Singapore's laws

Li Xin was arrested on May 17, 2023, and has been in remand since May 18.

He was handed four charges for using criminal force, strangling, causing alarm to, and threatening to kill his landlady respectively.

On Jun. 21, Li Xin pleaded guilty to strangling and threatening to kill his landlady.

He was unrepresented and asked for leniency.

He said he had worked in Singapore for over 10 years but was unaware of the country's laws, adding that he would not have acted out if he had known.

Five months' jail

The prosecutor noted that the attack was unprovoked and sustained, where Li Xin chased after his landlady, demanding that she come out from the room, after the male tenant pulled him away when he was strangling her.

The prosecutor stated that it was fortuitous that the male tenant was around as Li Xin might not have stopped strangling his landlady.

The judge agreed with the sentence sought by the prosecutor and sentenced Li Xin to five months' jail.

Top image from Canva