S'porean man strangles landlady at knifepoint for 3 hours & steals nearly S$60,000 in cash & valuables, gets jail & caning

A Singaporean man has been sentenced to prison for strangling his former landlady while attempting to extort money from her.

The attack lasted over three hours, and he was found guilty of stealing nearly S$60,000 worth of cash and valuables.

For extortion through the use of threats, Goh was handed five years and three months in prison, as well as eight strokes of the cane, Shin Min reported.

The attack

The man, 29-year-old Goh You Sheng, was a former tenant of the victim and had been employed by her and her husband as a handyman at their properties.

He therefore had access to the house where the crime happened.

Court documents seen by Mothership indicated that on Jul. 30, 2022, Goh arrived at the property owned by the victim with a pair of gloves and a knife, then headed to the fourth floor where she was located.

An argument soon ensued, during which he was said to have covered the victim's mouth with his hand and strangled her multiple times, including once with a cut power cable from a rice cooker.

Goh then took the woman to a block in Hougang Street 21, where he asked her to withdraw S$10,000 in cash from an ATM.

However, she was only able to retrieve S$2,000 due to a daily withdrawal limit.

Goh transferred S$50,000 from the victim to his girlfriend's account using the woman's phone.

He also stole an additional S$9,811 in cash and valuables from the victim.

Upon being released by Goh, the victim called her husband, who reported the incident to the police.

Goh was arrested on Aug. 5, 2022 after a week-long manhunt.

Pre-mediated

The court suggested that Goh had planned the crime in advance, as he had bought tools to carry out the attack.

Chat messages between both parties shown in court also revealed that he had intended to extort money from as early as Jul. 7, 2022, when he gave the victim an ultimatum to compensate, on his behalf, the victims of rental scams Goh was involved in at the time.

Making threats against the victim, he made it clear in the messages that he was prepared to do illegal acts and face consequences.

Following the attack, the victim was found to have sustained injuries to her neck and vocal cords.

Top image via Canva