A fish soup stall owner at Tanglin Halt Food Centre took matters into his own hands after a rival stall owner allegedly "stared" at him and uttered under his breath, while walking past.
The 70-year-old man, Peck Chuan Ann, took a long wooden pole with a protruding nail from the wash basin area and circled around the food centre to ambush the victim, who was sitting in front of his own stall.
Peck hit him on the head multiple times, and later tried to strike the victim's wife as well, but was eventually disarmed by them. He fled the scene and later turned himself in to the police.
The victim sustained grievous injuries from the attack, including a skull fracture and a permanent right wrist impairment, as well as bleeding in his brain. No compensation has been made to him to date.
Peck was charged in court on Sep. 19 for causing grievous hurt to 51-year-old Punnataro Wee in April 2022.
He pleaded that he was suffering from adjustment disorder and depressed mood at the time of the offence.
"Staring" incident in the morning
Both men owned competing fish soup stalls at Tanglin Halt Food Centre.
According to court documents, Peck saw Wee as his rival, and both had disagreements prior to the incident.
On Apr. 8, 2022, Wee arrived at the hawker centre first at about 6:17am to make preparations at his stall.
Peck arrived less than 30 minutes later.
At about 6:54am, the two had a chance meeting after Wee bought some drinks.
While walking past Peck, Wee looked at him and made an utterance. He then returned to his own stall.
This apparently triggered the older man's act of aggression, and there was no further communications between the two.
In a Institute of Mental Health report, Peck stated, among other reasons, that he attacked Wee “because he stared at me”.
“I really cannot take it anymore. I felt indignant. I wanted to take something to hit him,” he added.
The weapon
At about 7.08pm, Peck went over to check the wash basin area at the food centre.
He found a wooden pole kept behind a folded table there, and after checking that there were no passers-by around, took it with him.
Peck was also seen on CCTV footage picking up the wooden pole.
Investigations later revealed that the pole was about 71cm long, and had a nail protruding from one end.
The 71cm long pole used by Peck in the attack had a rusty screw protruding from one end. Image from Shin Min Daily News.
Court documents did not mention what the pole would normally be used for.
The ambush
After acquiring the pole, Peck exited the food centre.
He took a sheltered walkway that led behind it, and re-entered the food centre from behind Wee, who was sitting in front of his stall.
These movements, leading up to the attack, were also captured on CCTV footage.
Around 7:10am, Peck ambushed Wee with the wooden pole, hitting him on the head multiple times with the end that had the protruding nail.
This caused the younger man to fall onto the ground.
Wee's wife, who was helping him set up the stall, rushed over to intervene.
Peck tried to strike her with the pole as well, but she managed to grab it and with Wee's help, and disarmed Peck.
After a scuffle, he ran away.
Turned himself in
Injured from the scuffle, Peck returned to his rental flat.
He then sought help from his daughter, who advised him to surrender himself at a police station.
Peck complied.
Grievous injuries inflicted onto victim
Following the incident, Wee was conveyed to National University Hospital for treatment.
He was found to have sustained a scalp laceration, skull fracture leading to bleeding in his brain and fractures to his left hand and right wrist.
The hospital also diagnosed that his injured wrist was likely to be permanently impaired as a result of the attack.
Wee was subsequently given 75 days of hospitalisation leave.
Court documents noted that no compensation has been made to Wee to date.
Attack premeditated and vicious: Prosecution
Deputy Public Prosecutor Louis Ngia asked for a deterrent sentence of 18 to 22 months' imprisonment for the accused, on account of the seriousness of the victim's injuries and the "premeditated" and "vicious" nature of the attack.
Ngia pointed out that the accused looked around to make sure no one saw him picking up the weapon, and took a detour around the food centre before creeping up behind the victim.
"Clearly, the accused was applying a significant degree of subterfuge to his offending conduct, so as to catch the victim unawares. The offence was not committed on impulse," Ngia asserted.
Ngia also highlighted the persistence of the attack, and that he struck a "highly vulnerable" part of the victim's body, namely his head, multiple times.
"Even then, his aggression did not seem to have abated. When he was stopped by the victim’s wife, he attempted to strike her as well," Ngia added.
Impairment caused by accused's psychiatric condition only mild: Prosecution
In mitigation, the defence pointed out that the accused had suffered from adjustment disorder with depressed mood at the time of the offence, as diagnosed by IMH.
An IMH psychiatrist had submitted in a July 2023 report that this led to “at least a mild impairment" of the accused’s capacity to exercise self-control and restraint towards the victim.
The psychiatrist further opined that his psychiatric condition had contributed to the offence.
Nevertheless, the report found that the accused “formed a clear intent to assault the alleged victim and taken steps to do so”.
Ngia argued that the accused's psychiatric condition should be only given slight mitigating weight, highlighting that the impairment to his self-control and restraint was "only mild".
He asserted that there could not be a "provocation" for the attack, given that the victim "merely looked at the accused and made an utterance".
Peck is expected to plead guilty on Oct. 5.
Top image from Shin Min Daily News.