Man who slashed wife at Beach Road 'permanently unfit' for caning, no extra jail time

A man who had slashed his wife with two cleavers outside a row of restaurants in Beach Road was spared from caning.

In court documents seen by Mothership on Nov. 5, the 50-year-old man, Cheng Guoyuan, was certified permanently unfit to undergo the punishment.

He was previously sentenced in June 2025 to 19 years’ jail and eight strokes of the cane for attempted murder after pleading guilty to attacking his wife, Han Hongli, in April 2022.

Spared from caning

In a brief High Court hearing before Justice Audrey Lim, the prosecution said it had received a medical memo from the Singapore Prisons Service dated Sep. 9, 2025 stating that Cheng was permanently unfit for caning.

“The Prosecution has since had sight of the Prisons medical memo issued by Dr Sahaya Nathan on 9 September 2025, certifying that the accused is permanently unfit for caning. After considering the circumstances, the Prosecution will not be asking for an additional imprisonment term in lieu of caning.”

Justice Audrey Lim therefore remitted the caning sentence and did not impose any extra jail time, according to the Straits Times.

Under Singapore law, caning may be carried out only on male offenders below 50 who are medically fit.

When an offender is found unfit, the court may either remit the punishment or impose up to a year’s jail in lieu, but this is not mandatory following a 2017 High Court ruling.

Beach Road attack in 2022

Court documents revealed that on Apr. 14, 2022, Cheng, then a kitchen assistant, confronted Han at her workplace.

Han had worked at the Chong Qing Steamboat Bar in Beach Road.

Cheng’s attack stemmed from a long-running domestic conflict.

Two days before the assault, he had drafted several WeChat notes expressing his intention to kill Han if she revealed a past wrongdoing he had committed against her daughter from a previous marriage.

In his WeChat notes, Cheng accused his wife of having seduced and slept with many men, along with wanting Han to “pay the price for betraying (him)” and that he “live(d) without any face”.

Han requested that they speak at a back lane near the restaurant and, after a quarrel over the wrongdoing, Cheng pulled out a cleaver and slashed her repeatedly, targeting her head and neck.

He said in Chinese:

“If I am not living well, you should not think about living.”

Despite her screams for help and the presence of bystanders, Cheng continued the assault even after the first cleaver’s handle snapped, pressing the loose blade into her neck several times before grabbing a second cleaver from the Steamboat Bar to resume his attack.

He only stopped and ran towards Beach Road when several members of the public hurled objects at him.

However, he soon tried to return for the victim, who had escaped into a nearby hotel lobby.

Eventually, he returned to the Steamboat Bar to slash his neck and wrists in an attempt at suicide, but was arrested by police officers there.

Videos of the incident were widely circulated on social media and caused public outrage.

Permanent life-changing injuries

Han, 44, suffered catastrophic wounds.

Her left hand was almost severed, her left eye was blinded, her face was permanently disfigured, and the function of both of her arms was severely impaired.

The tip of her right ring finger was also amputated.

She spent 36 days in hospital, underwent multiple surgeries and has been unable to resume regular work.

In her victim-impact statement, she said that she once contemplated suicide due to the injuries she suffered and because she did not want to be a burden to her family.

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