52YO Angry Hawker Chops off Uncle’s Middle Finger With A Bread Knife; Sentenced to 17 Mths’ Jail

By
Avery
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What will you do if you notice someone staring at you? Give them a weird stare back, ignore them, or swear at them angrily in Hokkien, leading to a knife fight that will eventually cost you your middle finger (ironic, huh)?

You would have guessed that, clearly, someone wisely chose the third option, and thus this article was born.

52YO Angry Hawker Chops off Uncle’s Middle Finger With A Bread Knife; Sentenced to 17 Mths’ Jail

The incident occurred near Bukit Batok Street 31, during the fine night of 30 June 2019. The injured man (let’s call him that) in question, a 56-year-old retiree, was happily indulging in the tipsy pleasures of alcohol when he spotted hawker Lim Boon Cheng, 52, sitting nearby and staring at him.

Well, here we go. The injured promptly greeted Lim’s family in a series of friendly Hokkien words, angrily asking him why he was looking.

Chill, bro, maybe he’s just staring in your direction thinking about life. You aren’t as attractive as you think.

Lim was, unsurprisingly, offended. What was more surprising was his response: he ran back to his vegetables stall and produced three long, menacing knives. Keeping a 30-cm-long bread knife for himself, he tossed the other two to the injured, challenging him to a knife “duel”. 

His words, not mine.

In the spirit of an honorable duel in true gentlemanly fashion, however, the injured man only raised a plastic chair in self-defense.

Here’s some advice: don’t bring a plastic chair to a knife fight.

Instead of running for his life the moment Lim left, however, he decided to chase after him, and was greeted by a swing of the knife. 

His right middle finger was gone. Based on eyewitness accounts, he was a naturally irritable person—well, now there goes one of his most frequently used fingers, then.

Lim pleaded guilty on 26 March to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon and one charge of committing a rash act. He was sentenced to 17 months in jail, for an offense which carries a maximum penalty of imprisonment.

What Is Voluntarily Causing Hurt?

Well, you hurt someone… voluntarily. Duh.

But the offense of voluntarily causing hurt requires a more rigorous definition. To be charged under the offense, you’ll have to harm someone while harbouring the intention of causing hurt, or in the full knowledge that you are likely to hurt someone. 

“Hurt” also needs a clearer understanding. “Any kind of bodily pain, disease, or infirmity”, according to Singapore Legal Advice, can be considered as hurt caused to a person. 

It also includes psychological damage, such as if one person’s actions causes another to develop a mental illness.

It is a common offense, seen every few days on the news: just a few days ago, five teenagers were arrested for fighting with six others near Bedok North Street 3, according to Mothership. 

A more serious case, however, happened last October, when a man took a kitchen knife with a 17cm long blade and attacked a woman near his home on Choa Chu Kang Avenue 3.

According to The Straits Times, the man attacked the stranger because he “thought of ‘doing something bad’ so that he could feel better”. 

Come on, what did the woman do to you? 

He was apprehended by an off-duty police officer who witnessed the incident, and pleaded guilty to the offense of voluntarily causing hurt with a deadly weapon on March 23. 

The offense, which is an aggravated form of voluntarily causing hurt, can carry a penalty of up to seven years in prison.

Feature Image: Brian A Jackson / Shutterstock.com

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Avery
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