Man, 46, who held knife to security officer's neck near Geylang Serai Market has schizophrenia, claims he was murder target

The man who was filmed attacking an auxiliary officer near Geylang Serai Market on the night of Mar. 9 has been charged and sentenced in court.

Li Yongfeng, a 46-year-old Chinese national, had stolen a kebab knife with a 15cm-long blade from a stall in the bazaar and used it to threaten the security officer, according to charge documents seen by Mothership.

He placed his arm over the 41-year-old officer's neck and pointed the knife at his neck, shouting in Mandarin, "Call the police! Call the embassy!"

After he was arrested, Li struck two police officers in the head at the Central Police Division.

In court on May 28, he pleaded guilty to two charges for criminal intimidation with a threat to cause grievous hurt, and voluntarily causing hurt to one of the police officers.

Another two charges, for stealing the kebab knife and for hurting the second police officer, were taken into consideration.

He was sentenced to 11 months and six weeks in prison.

Diagnosed with schizophrenia

When he was younger and living in China, Li was diagnosed with schizophrenia by a psychiatrist, with symptoms including auditory hallucinations and persecutory delusions, according to court documents.

Although he was prescribed medication, he refused to take it, allowing his condition to worsen over the years.

He further aggravated his illness by drinking almost daily thus far in 2026, and each time afterwards, he would experience auditory hallucinations as part of his withdrawal symptoms.

Hallucinated that he was a murder target

In the evening of Mar. 9, Li went to Geylang Serai Market alone to cool down after arguing with his wife, who was living in China, over the phone.

He drank three cans of beer, and started to have hallucinations, believing that his former employer from China was in Singapore.

In his imagination, this employer had set fire to Li's residence in Singapore, killing all his family in it, and was looking to kill him next.

Li also hallucinated that the Singapore police would not protect him and was conspiring with the employer against him.

He believed that the only way he could get to safety was to hold a police officer hostage so that the police would take him safely to the Chinese embassy in Singapore.

Held the officer at knife point

As part of his plan, Li stole the kebab knife from a stall, then approached an auxiliary officer who was managing the traffic near a cross-junction outside the bazaar.

Thinking the officer was from the police, Li held and threatened him at knife point, and yelled for the officer and passersby to call the police and the embassy.

Someone called the police, and several other passersby went towards Li to calm him down.

Upon realising that what he was doing was dangerous to the officer, Li dropped his knife and apologised to him.

The other passersby subsequently restrained Li while waiting for police officers to arrive to arrest him.

The auxiliary officer was not injured from the incident.

Hitting the police officers

After arresting Li, the police drove him to the Central Police Division, and was parking the car when Li's schizophrenic symptoms relapsed.

He hallucinated that the two police officers at his sides were bringing him to his former boss, and became aggressive as he tried to break free.

When the two officers ordered that he sit down properly, he used his head to hit them in the head one after another.

It caused one of the officers to suffer blunt force pain and trauma on the left side of his temple.

Li was remanded to the Institute of Mental Health afterwards, where he remained as of May 22.

Sentencing

The prosecutor sought a sentence of 10 months to a year and a half months in prison.

He highlighted that despite Li's mental illness, a mandatory treatment order (MTO) cannot be ordered for him because he was charged with an offence punishable with imprisonment exceeding three years.

The charge of voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant carried a prison sentence of up to seven years.

The prosecutor added that a custodial sentence is warranted for Li because his offence of criminal intimidation involved a weapon.