11½ years’ jail for man with three-decade criminal history after he attacked stranger with sickle

SINGAPORE – A man who had multiple infractions with the law over more than three decades was jailed on April 7 after he continued his streak of violent behaviour, including using a sickle to slash a stranger who was sleeping.

On April 7, Lau Kwee Yong was sentenced to 11 years and six months’ jail after pleading guilty to four charges including voluntarily causing hurt while committing or attempting to commit robbery, voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons, using criminal force against a public servant, and the consumption of methamphetamine.

Five other charges were taken into consideration for the 66-year-old’s sentencing.

The court heard that between 1980 and 2019, Lau was involved in over 40 cases, including multiple charges for robbery, snatch theft, the possession of offensive weapons, and rioting with deadly weapons.

He was also charged with the consumption of controlled or specified drugs on eight occasions between 1981 and 2018.

One of the current charges was for an incident in July 2023 at a coffee shop in the Tiong Bahru district.

Lau, who was intoxicated, used a flower pot to strike a man’s head at least 13 times after the man took a seat at Lau’s table without asking Lau. This happened even though the man left to go to another table after being told the seat was taken.

Lau stopped hitting the man only after a passer-by intervened to take the flower pot out of Lau’s hands.

The assaulted man later sought medical assistance and was recorded to have suffered five lacerations on his scalp, two lacerations on his arm, and swelling.

Lau was identified and arrested on Nov 9, 2023.

Another of Lau’s current charges was for attempting to grab a female police officer who did not allow him to smoke while he was being interviewed by the police in May 2024.

The officers were responding to a report made by Lau’s neighbour after she discovered that the padlock to her door had been damaged. CCTV footage later identified Lau as the culprit.

While Lau was being interviewed by the officers, Lau became angry after the female officer rejected his request to smoke.

He then waited until the female officer turned her back towards him, before moving towards her to grab her from the back.

The prosecution said that it was fortuitous that the police officer’s colleague saw what Lau had intended to do and immediately held onto him before he could reach the female officer.

Lau was then arrested.

His latest offence occurred in May 2025. The court heard that a man who had fallen asleep on a chair in the pavilion of a Redhill Housing Board block jolted awake after feeling pain on his face.

The man saw Lau – who was masked at that point – holding a sickle in front of him and tried to run away from Lau. When he failed to get away from Lau, the man asked Lau why he was attacking him.

Lau responded that he did not know or bear any grudges with the man, but he felt he wanted to attack him as there was nobody around. He then said he was in need of money and instructed the man to hand over some money if he did not want to be attacked again.

The man then handed over $200 to Lau, who quickly left the pavilion and threw the sickle into a nearby drain.

The man is recorded to have sustained multiple lacerations over his eyebrow, nose and left little finger.

Lau was identified and arrested later that same day. His urine samples tested positive for methamphetamine.

He also admitted to having been consuming the drug since 2023 after purchasing the drug from unknown sellers in Geylang.