Man poured boiling oil on roommate and stabbed him to death, gets life imprisonment

SINGAPORE: Frustrated by the clashes that arose from sharing a one-room flat, a man boiled hot oil with chillis inside, poured it over his sleeping roommate and stabbed him to death, ignoring his pleas to call an ambulance.

Ng Boon Hong, a 63-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday (Jul 1).

He wanted to plead guilty to the murder charge, but the judge said he could not record a plea of guilt since the offence was punishable by death.

Instead, Ng was convicted by a brief hearing in which the prosecution read out a set of facts agreed on by both the prosecution and defence.

THE CASE

The court heard that both Ng and the victim, 61-year-old Ang Cheng Kek, were unemployed.

Since December 2022, they had shared a one-room public rental flat in Redhill Close. The unit was equipped with a distress button emergency system for elderly residents.

The pair had several disputes while living together. Once, Mr Ang made a police report saying Ng had threatened to kill him after he refused to lend him money.

Mr Ang had a girlfriend he would invite over for intimate relations, but there was no partition in the flat, so Ng had to leave whenever the girlfriend was present.

Ng was also upset with Mr Ang for wanting to give away a cupboard he had bought him. Ng smashed it with a hammer in front of his roommate.

Ng felt that Mr Ang deliberately slammed the door at night to disturb him while he was asleep.

Mr Ang was unhappy that Ng smoked by the window, and did not like it that Ng hung his underwear to dry in the kitchen.

THE INCIDENT

On Mar 15, 2023, Ng went to bed at about 11pm. He was jolted awake about 40 minutes later by Mr Ang slamming the door on his return.

The pair got into an argument and used vulgarities on each other.

Ng was frustrated and felt he could no longer tolerate Mr Ang. He did not want the latter to die easily and intended to pour boiling oil on him.

He went to the kitchen, filled a pot half full with cooking oil and heated it over the stove.

Seeing some red chillis, he cut them into smaller pieces and added them to the pot, thinking they would inflict greater pain on the victim.

After checking that the neighbours were asleep and closing all the windows to reduce noise, Ng took a knife and the pot of oil with him to the sleeping victim.

At about 2.10am on Mar 16, 2023, Ng approached the victim who was sleeping with a blanket over his head, as was his habit.

He poured the boiling oil on Mr Ang’s face.

The victim woke up immediately and stood on his bed and Ng thrust the knife into his stomach.

Mr Ang bled profusely and asked Ng in Hokkien why he did this.

He walked slowly to the main door and squatted.

Concerned that Mr Ang would press the distress button, Ng stood between the victim and the button, ignoring Mr Ang’s pleas to call for an ambulance.

Ng also slashed the victim’s neck and the attack left the floor covered in blood.

After confirming that Mr Ang was dead, Ng took about $$3,000 from the victim, placed the knife in the sink and washed his hands.

He also threw the victim’s phone into a fish tank to disable it before leaving the flat. He went to a temple along Bencoolen Street where he prayed and confessed to killing the victim, vowing to surrender to the police after spending all his money.

He went to Geylang and spent the cash he had on beer, expensive food and tips for Vietnamese entertainers.

He then checked into a hotel with a woman, drank heavily and fell asleep. On Mar 17, 2023, he took a bus to Chinatown for breakfast before surrendering at a police station.

He said he had killed his housemate.

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