Jail for man on the run for 25 years after stabbing 2 people
A man, who used a knife to repeatedly stab two victims in separate incidents and caused serious injuries, jumped bail before fleeing to the Philippines in 1999.
Nah Kiam Seng, now 66, was caught overstaying there in 2014 and was detained for 10 years.
He was then deported to Singapore and was re-arrested 25 years later on July 13, 2024.
The Singaporean was sentenced to three years and six months’ jail on Sept 3 after he pleaded guilty to one count of using a knife to voluntarily causing grievous hurt to a man.
A second similar charge involving another victim was considered during sentencing.
According to court documents, Nah was at a pub in East Coast Road shortly after midnight on Jan 11, 1998, when he used a knife to repeatedly stab a man’s left shoulder.
Court documents did not disclose the reasons behind this attack, but the victim suffered serious injuries and had to be hospitalised for 48 days.
On March 2,1999, Nah attacked his second victim, who was 53 years old then.
Nah and two men, including one of his friends, were at a pool table in a lounge in Jalan Leban, near Upper Thomson Road, at around 2.30am that day when the victim walked over to the trio.
Nah’s friend told the victim not to interfere with their game and the pair started quarrelling.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ariel Tan told the court: “The accused then intervened to try and stop the dispute, but it only resulted in the accused and the victim shouting at each other.
“The verbal argument soon devolved into a scuffle where the accused ended up getting hit in the face with a cue stick by the victim.”
An angry Nah picked up a bar stool and tried to hit the victim with it, but the owner of the lounge stopped him from doing so. The owner then led Nah out of the nightspot.
But Nah, who had a knife on him, dashed back and stabbed the victim’s abdominal area six times before fleeing in a taxi.
The victim’s wife, who was with him at the lounge, shouted for help and alerted the police.
Her husband was later taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where he had to undergo an emergency laparotomy, or an incision through his abdominal wall. The victim was then found to have a lacerated gall bladder with a leakage of bile.
He was discharged on April 6, 1999.
Nah was on the run before police arrested him on June 19 that year, and he was charged in court two days later.
He told the court at the time that he wanted to claim trial but failed to attend multiple pre-trial conferences later that year. A warrant of arrest was issued against him on Dec 6, 1999.
Court documents did not disclose when he left Singapore, but he ended up in the Philippines that year.
On Sept 3, the prosecutor urged the court to sentence Nah to up to four years’ jail, stressing that he had a proclivity towards violence.
DPP Tan said that Nah stopped stabbing and ran away only when the victim’s wife shouted for help.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now