2016 Geylang stabbing death

Goh Eng Thiam, who was gravely injured from the attack, died from excessive arterial blood loss from a cut to his arm.

On the morning of 9 July 2016, outside a Kopi tiam (or coffee shop in Malay) at Geylang and in front of several witnesses, a 52-year-old male customer of the shop was attacked by an elderly man, who used a knife to slash and stab him several times, including on the chest and arms. Both men later exchanged blows while lying on the ground before a taxi driver shouted at the pair, causing the elderly man to quickly flee the scene of crime; his knife was abandoned near the scene of crime.[2] The injured victim, Goh Eng Thiam (吴英添 Wú Yīngtiān), who subsequently laid himself on the curb at the roadside due to exhaustion after the fight, eventually lost consciousness and upon the arrival of the ambulance, Goh was pronounced dead at 8.11 am. The forensic pathologist, Dr Paul Chui, later performed an autopsy on Goh and determined that the cause of Goh's death was a single knife wound to the right upper arm, which cut through a major blood artery and resulted in Goh's death due to massive bleeding from the wound.[3][4]

At the time of his death, Goh left behind a 56-year-old ex-wife, three children: a 19-year-old son and two daughters aged 26 and 30 respectively, and one son-in-law. Goh's children, in an interview, expressed their sadness over their father's death and remembered Goh as a soft-hearted, loving father despite his hot temper. Despite having divorced his wife more than ten years ago, Goh maintained close contact with his children and ex-wife, and would visit his children often. It was said that Goh wanted to earn more money in order to properly reunite with his family prior to his untimely death. Goh's younger daughter appealed to the public and police for help to arrest the killer who attacked her father. Goh was also revealed to be the assistant of the zi char hawker stall at the coffee shop where he met his end from the stabbing incident, and he still worked there daily despite having retired to waive off his extra time.[5][6][7] Goh's acquaintances who knew him described Goh as someone who often help people in trouble and would show loyalty to those he knew. Undertaker Roland Tay, who was known for organizing pro bono funerals for high-profile murder victims like Huang Na and Liu Hong Mei, helped Goh's children to recover Goh's body, as well as arrange funeral preparations and Buddhist rituals on their behalf.[8]

The police classified Goh's death as murder[9][10] and a team led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Thinagaran Krishnasamy from CID took charge of the investigations. They interviewed the customers and stallholders of the coffee shop, who all recognised the elderly attacker by his nickname "Hong Qigong" (洪七公 Hóng Qìgōng), a name which meant "chief of beggars" in Chinese. The old man "Hong Qigong" was a neighbourhood character and karang guni man who often roamed the streets of Geylang to collect trash, mainly cardboard and cans, to re-sell for money. He was also known to often sleep in the streets, either under the MRT tracks or park areas.[11]

Labrador Park MRT station, where Toh Sia Guan was sighted and arrested by the police for Goh Eng Thiam's murder.

The CID police investigators, with help from officers of the Geylang neighbourhood police station, spent the next twelve days to trace the identity and whereabouts of the man, whom they eventually identified as Toh Sia Guan (卓谢源 Zhuó Xièyuán), a 64-year-old Singaporean. Toh was eventually sighted at the Labrador Park MRT station and he was subsequently arrested on 21 July 2016, nearly two weeks after he allegedly killed Goh.[12][13] Toh was charged with murder two days after his arrest,[14][15] and at the courtroom where Toh was charged, Goh's bereaved family were all present to have a glimpse of his attacker. Goh's elder daughter told reporters outside the court that they had never seen Toh before.[16][17] After he was charged, Toh was brought back to the crime scene to assist the police with investigations.[18][19]

The case of Toh was not the first case of homicide to happen in July 2016 itself. There were four other high-profile killings (including the Gardens by the Bay murder case) that occurred within that month itself, and except for one case, all suspects from these other three cases were arrested and charged with murder. In light of the killings, the police expressed that every person arrested would face the full brunt of law and the police would spare no effort to bring these offenders to justice.[20][21]

On 2 February 2021, nearly a year since he was convicted and sentenced, 68-year-old Toh Sia Guan's appeal against his sentence and conviction was dismissed by the Court of Appeal, after a three-judge panel - consisting of Judges of Appeal Tay Yong Kwang, Andrew Phang and Belinda Ang - heard it on the same day it was dismissed.

Toh, who was unrepresented when he made his appeal, argued earlier that he should not be liable to the charge of murder, once again raising his defence that it was an accidental stabbing that resulted in the fatal wound on Goh Eng Thiam's arm, but the three judges were of the opinion that the trial judge Aedit Abdullah was correct to note that it was more probable that the fatal wound resulted from Toh intentionally inflicting it onto Goh's upper right arm during the fight rather than the victim accidentally impaling the knife onto his arm. They also dismissed Toh's allegations of misconduct by his former defence counsel Wong Seow Pin during his trial, as they found that Wong had rendered his fullest ability and effort to provide legal advice and assistance in Toh's defence to the best of his knowledge, and had not misled his ex-client about the possible sentences for a lower charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Hence the Court of Appeal dismissed Toh's appeal against his conviction.[36]

Not only that, Toh also appealed against the sentence of life imprisonment, claiming that it was a manifestly excessive and extremely harsh punishment for his crime. Justice Phang, who delivered the court's appeal verdict, stated that there was no merit behind Toh's opposition of his sentence, as under Section 302(2) of the Penal Code, the permissible sentences for a Section 300(c) murder conviction were either life imprisonment or the death penalty. Since the sentence of life imprisonment was already the minimum punishment the courts could give to Toh for the murder offence he was convicted of, Toh cannot expect to receive a more lenient sentence than life for his crime, hence the Court of Appeal also dismissed Toh's appeal against his sentence as well. Since the loss of his appeal, Toh is currently incarcerated at Changi Prison, where he is serving his life sentence since 21 July 2016, the date of his first remand.[37]

In the aftermath, the Geylang stabbing case was dramatized in Singapore crime show Crimewatch and the re-enactment aired as the ninth episode of the show's annual season in 2021. In the episode, the victim Goh Eng Thiam's name was changed to Lee Tong Choon and several details of the case were adjusted for dramatic purposes and protection of the victim's privacy, but the major details of the crime overall remained faithful to the real-life details of the case and the killer's name was still retained as Toh Sia Guan.[38]

• Kho Jabing
• Leslie Khoo Kwee Hock
• Life imprisonment in Singapore
• Capital punishment in Singapore
• List of major crimes in Singapore
• List of cases affected by the Kho Jabing case