Apex court raises sentence for retiree who killed wife during psychotic episode
The Court of Appeal has increased the jail term of an elderly man who stabbed and hacked his wife to death while suffering a brief psychotic episode in March 2016.
Kong Peng Yee, 70, had initially been handed a two-year jail term on 16 October last year but this was increased to six years following an appeal by the prosecution, which found the initial sentence to be “manifestly inadequate”.
Having backdated Kong’s sentence to the start of his remand on 13 March 2016, he was released from prison on the day he was sentenced and thereafter voluntarily resided at the Institute of Mental Health.
In its judgement, Judge of Appeal Tay Yong Kwang noted that enhancing Kong’s sentence was in the public’s interest and also appropriate.
“This sentence would give the respondent sufficient time to become accustomed to the new reality of having to take medication in a disciplined manner, and assuage to a reasonable degree any concerns that the public might have about a potentially dangerous man living in its midst,” said Tay.
The judge added that deterrence should not be the “dominant consideration” in this case as the respondent’s psychosis was causally linked to the offence and warped his understanding of reality.
“He was unlikely to reoffend in future provided that his mental state remained stable,” said Tay, who stressed that rehabilitation and prevention were the dominant sentencing principles in the case.
“Rehabilitating the respondent, while at the same time preventing him from harming others, would better protect the respondent’s family and the public.”
Background to the case
On 13 March 2016, Kong was in his elder daughter’s Compassvale Crescent flat with his 63-year-old wife Wong Chik Yeok when he was awakened by what he described as “roaring sounds” around his ears.
After his daughter had left the flat, he attacked his wife with a knife and chopper. He later claimed that his mind told him, “Make sure she die”, during the attack.
An autopsy found that the victim had suffered a total of 189 wounds, including multiple incised wounds to the head and blunt force trauma all over the body. Upon realising that his wife was dead, Kong said that he felt “happy”. The couple had been married for about 36 years.
He later called his younger sister and told her he had killed his wife. When Kong’s younger daughter called him, the first thing he said was “I killed Mummy”.
Kong was later assessed by Dr Kenneth Koh, a psychiatrist and senior consultant with the Institute of Mental Health. According to Koh, Kong had “late onset psychosis with persecutory, jealous and nihilistic/somatic delusions, and had experienced a brief psychotic episode at the time of the offence”.
While Kong responded well to medication and entered into remission, there was a risk of relapse should he cease taking his current medication. Koh also assessed that Kong required long-term follow up with psychiatric services.
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Retiree gets two years’ jail for stabbing wife to death, prosecution to appeal
Man pleads guilty to stabbing wife to death with knife and chopper
