Man, 21, gets jail for killing abusive dad after latter taunted son

SINGAPORE — A teenager slashed his abusive father twice in their Yishun flat after the 47-year-old man taunted him by calling him "ah gua" (Hokkien for transvestite) and challenging him to "chop someone with a knife".

When his father, Eddie Seah, left the fifth-floor flat after the initial confrontation, Sylesnar Seah Jie Kai, who was then a 19-year-old student, followed him, armed with two knives.

He believed that if he did not kill his father, his father would kill him the following day, the High Court was told on Sept 30.

At the lift lobby, the younger Seah repeatedly slashed his father's head and neck with the knives, and the two continued struggling at the staircase landing between the fourth and fifth floor.

After his son dropped one of the knives, Eddie Seah picked it up, and approached a fourth-floor unit for help before he collapsed.

The younger Seah then lay down near to his father, and waited for the police and paramedics to arrive. The father was pronounced dead at the scene.

On Sept 30, Seah, who is now 21 years old, was sentenced to six years' jail after he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide for killing his father on Oct 10, 2022.

He had initially been charged with murder, but the charge was reduced after he was diagnosed to be suffering from chronic adjustment disorder with depressed mood and an "other specified depressive disorder", or OSDD.

The prosecution sought a sentence of between seven and 12 years' jail "to reflect the accused's intentional violence towards his father", while the defence asked for five years' jail.

In sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill took into account the accused's age, the medical evidence on his mental condition, and his guilty plea. 

The judge noted that the "unsavoury treatment" of the younger Seah and his mother did not permit him to bring such violence against his father.

The mother, who was in court with her two other children, sobbed after she heard the sentence.

The bespectacled young man, who has been in custody since his arrest, was allowed to talk to his family members for 15 minutes.

Seah is the youngest of three children. At the time of the killing, he lived at the flat with his parents and older sister.

Prosecutors told the court that the father drank regularly, and, when intoxicated, often verbally abused his wife and Sylesnar. He also physically abused his children when they were younger.

On the evening of Oct 10, 2022, while Seah was showering after he returned home, his mother left the flat to take care of her father.

When he came out of the shower, his father, who was drinking, told him to call his mother to come home.

Seah replied "okay" and went to his room to have his dinner and watch videos on his computer.

Shortly after, the father entered the room and told the son again to call his mother to come back to the flat.

The son replied that he would do so after dinner, but his father insisted that he do so immediately.

An argument then broke out, with the father calling his son "ah gua" and a coward. He further taunted his son by asking him if he dared to "chop someone with a knife".

Angered and humiliated by the taunts, Seah grabbed a knife with a 20-cm blade and slashed his father in the living room.

Eddie Seah suffered a cut on his right chest but did not retaliate.

The younger Seah returned the knife to the kitchen and walked back to his room, while Eddie Seah called his wife on the mobile phone and left the flat.

The son then went back to the kitchen to take the same knife and a second knife with a blade measuring about 15cm.

Prosecutors said he was afraid that if he did not kill his father, his father would kill him the following day.

He decided that he needed two knives because his father used to be involved in gang fights in his younger days.

Sylesnar confronted his father near the lift and repeatedly slashed him in the head and neck.

The father raised his hands to block the blows, and pushed his son towards the staircase leading to the fourth floor.

After Mr Eddie Seah walked away from his son on the fourth floor, Seah followed as he was worried about his father, who was bleeding, said prosecutors.

When his father collapsed outside a flat, the son shouted for someone to call the police.

When police officers arrived at the scene, he told them: "I killed him."

He later confessed in his police statements that he intended to kill his father. He explained that he aimed the attacks at his neck because he "thought that decapitation was one of the most instantaneous ways to die".

An autopsy found that the victim suffered at least 24 incised wounds, including the fatal 18-cm wound to the neck.

Dr Todd Masahiro Tomita of the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) found that Sylesnar's depressive disorder had reduced his capacity to know the wrongfulness of his acts and his capacity to control his actions.

[[nid:702575]]

Dr Christopher Cheok of the IMH, who assessed the son's condition in 2024, found that his risk of reoffending is low, and his long-term prognosis is good.

In sentencing arguments, Deputy Public Prosecutors Derek Ee and Jordy Kay noted: "While the accused was labouring under a depressive disorder at the material time, it was not a licence to kill."

The prosecutors said the accused had a clear opportunity to avoid further violence when his father left the flat without retaliating.

Instead, he chose to act on his anger towards his father and his "misplaced belief" that his father would kill him.

The prosecution added that the depressive disorder did not significantly impair Seah's ability to think logically - he was able to conclude that he needed to arm himself with two knives.

But his lawyers, Joyce Khoo and Sunil Sudheesan, said their client had acted upon a "real fear" and genuinely believed that his father would kill him.

The defence argued that despite suffering years of physical and mental abuse, Sylesnar was a "compliant and passive" individual who has never stood up against his father until the fateful incident.

According to the written mitigation, the son felt overwhelmed after his father collapsed, and told his father that he hated him.

The father then replied: "I'm sorry. I love you. Please forgive me."

The mitigation said that Seah then told his father to kill him, and when his father did not move, he put a knife on his own neck.

"However, our client's father told our client, 'don't do it, it isn't worth it'," the mitigation said.

[[nid:703330]]

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