Beach Road slasher separated from victim; they have 2 kids

SINGAPORE - The man who allegedly slashed his wife repeatedly outside a restaurant in Beach Road is separated from her, those who know the couple said.

They added that the man, 46, and his 41-year-old wife have two children - a boy and a girl.

The family is from China, said staff of restaurants in the area.

Mr Wei Chen Xiang, a worker from Zhong Hua Steamboat, said the victim has been working at Chong Qing (Origin) Steamboat for about a year and described her as friendly.

Both eateries are in Beach Road.

"She always said hello with a smile when we ran into each other and seemed to be a good-natured person," said Mr Wei, 32.

Mr Leonard Shi, 41, owner of Samurai BBQ, which is located in Liang Seah Street, said the woman is from Henan, a province in central China.

"I heard she intended to go back to China some time ago, but stayed on to help her boss with the hotpot restaurant here," he said.

Chong Qing (Origin) Steamboat had its shutters down when The Straits Times visited on Friday afternoon (April 15).

When contacted, one of their staff members said they were assisting with police investigations and declined to comment further.

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But in a live stream on Facebook on Thursday night, the owner of the restaurant said he had just arrived at the eatery when the attack was taking place. 

“I was wondering what happened, how come there’s a guy holding a chopper going berserk,” said the man who identified himself as Edmund.

He was speaking to viewers of his Facebook channel, which he uses to sell frozen seafood.

Edmund said the victim is one of his staff members but added that he had never seen the assailant before.

“I don’t really talk (to my staff) about their private lives... Last week I asked her where her husband is and she said he had gone back to China,” he said. 

He added that he had told the victim to “stay strong” before she was taken away in an ambulance.

Most of the restaurants in the area were open on Friday, with a steady flow of patrons returning to the area after the horrific attack on Thursday afternoon.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFvas2U5gbQ[/embed]

Videos of the incident show a woman with multiple wounds on the ground outside Zhong Hua Steamboat as a man confronts her with a chopper.

Restaurant workers had to intervene in the incident by throwing plastic chairs and metal signposts to stop him.

Mr Wei and Mr Shi were among the people who confronted the alleged assailant.

A number of workers chased him into an alley behind the row of eateries before he was tasered inside the restaurant where his wife works.

On Friday, curious passers-by were spotted peeking into the alley where the man was confronted, and inspecting the ground where the victim laid bleeding.

A woman who wanted to be known only as Ms Lam, 26, said: "I was shocked when I read the news on Thursday.

"Since I have plans to meet friends here for lunch today, I thought I'd take a look around."

Another diner, delivery worker Ming Li, 33, who was having lunch with a friend in a restaurant in Liang Seah Street, said: "We don't dare to dine too near the incident site after seeing video clips of the attack. It was very violent.

"But the man has been arrested, so we decided to stick to our plans to dine in the area." 

Earlier this month, Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim, an MP for Chua Chu Kang GRC, raised in Parliament the issue of public safety following a spate of violent attacks involving weapons.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Desmond Tan said the number of knife-related crimes involving murder, robbery, rioting and serious hurt has remained relatively constant, averaging about 150 annually in recent years.

He added that about 36 per cent of these crimes occurred in residential areas and 3 per cent happened in educational premises.

The rest took place in other public and commercial places.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.