Mum of Son Who Was Killed by Father-in-Law in Boon Tat Incident Sued Him for Over $5K a Month

Back in July 2017, a man was stabbed in the chest at Telok Ayer by his father-in-law.

After more than three years of hearings and investigations, the killer, who is also his father-in-law, was sentenced to eight and a half years of jail time.

However, it seems that the case isn’t as over as we’d thought because now, the mother of the deceased is suing for compensation from his killer.

Mum of Son Who Was Killed by Father-in-Law in Boon Tat Incident Sued Him for Over $5K a Month

Madam Tham Poh Kwai, the mother of Spencer Tuppani, is bringing Tan, her in-law, to court for at least $5,050 a month in damages and losses.

Telling the court that she was dependent on Tuppani for her living expenses and lodgings back when he was alive, the amount comprises “the monthly maintenance Tuppani used to give her” and her monthly rental.

She had filed her statement of claim back in Nov 2019.

Interlocutory Judgement Was Actually Given

Turns out, Tan was actually asked to pay for the damages back in Dec 2019 when he did not turn up for the hearing through an interlocutory judgement.

An interlocutory judgement is a judgement that was given before the end of a case. It’s not a final judgement until the judge either decide on other matters relating to the case or observes that the judgement is working.

Tan, however, had a valid reason for not turning up: He was in remand (detained by the police) for the stabbing case.

He has applied to set the judgement aside.

Tan claims that the only one who could liaise for him with his lawyers is his daughter who is away on holiday at the time that papers were served.

Tham, on the other hand, was adamant that he was just trying to delay the case and “worsen the loss of her son” by making her “relive the trauma again”.

The hearing of the case was reported to have resumed on 14 Oct 2020.

The Boon Tat Murder

On Jul 2017, an elderly man stabbed a man at Telok Ayer and followed after him as he tried to crawl to safety.

He stopped passers-by from helping, saying that the man (who was stabbed) is his “son-in-law” and “he deserves to die”.

He did not flee the scene and, instead, called his daughter while waiting for the police to arrive.

After her father was sentenced to jail but was spared the rod as he was over the age limit, the daughter, Shyller Tan spoke up about the incident.

According to her, she only knew that her husband was cheating on her in Feb 2017.

He had a mistress, whom he allegedly admitted to having two children with, and her mother-in-law was allegedly “in the know”.

Her friends had sent her pictures of Tuppani and his mother celebrating a birthday for one of his kids.

The stress of seeing his daughter betrayed and suspecting Tuppani of trying to take control of the company he had painstakingly built up over the years led to Tan taking a knife to meet with Tuppani on that fateful day and stabbing him to death.