SINGAPORE, April 25 — An 82-year-old man with a personality disorder and acute paranoia was today sentenced to eight years’ jail for killing his daughter-in-law in August 2014.

A High Court heard that Char Chin Fah had been living with his son, Char Yeng Kong, and his family in Tampines for about two years. 

Char had an acrimonious relationship with his son and daughter-in-law, Ong Guat Leng, and frequently complained about her to his other two children. 

He felt that Ong, then 54, was disrespectful towards him, and would frequently nag at him.

In turn, his family members described Char as difficult to live with, often leaving his dirty socks on the dining table and leaving the toilet door open when urinating.

On Aug 20, 2014, Char’s son and daughter-in-law quarrelled with him for not washing the curtain which partitioned a small space in the living room as his living quarters. 

Char then decided to kill Ong.

The next morning, he penned a suicide note at a nearby coffee shop, informing his daughter that he had done “something big” and instructing her to settle his personal matters. 

He drank a bottle of beer to “gather more courage” to carry out the grisly task, and returned home with a metal pole after the other occupants — except for Ong, who was a housewife — had left.

He went into the kitchen, selected the sharpest knife and entered the room where Ong was sleeping. 

She woke up, only to have him grab her hair and bang her head against the wall repeatedly. 

Char then stabbed her in the chest four times, with the final stab landing an inch to the left of the centre of her chest. He knew from a documentary that the heart was in that spot.

Throughout the attack, Ong begged for forgiveness, but he did not stop until she fell to the floor motionless.

Char then called his children to inform them of the murder, and made his way to his daughter’s house. Another son joined them there, and persuaded Char to go to the police station.

In his mitigation plea, defence lawyer Ramesh Tiwary asked for a sentence of five years’ jail, arguing that Char had never committed a prior offence, and had surrendered himself to the police willingly. His physical condition had also deteriorated over the last few years, having undergone two surgeries during remand.

Calling for 10 years’ imprisonment, deputy public prosecutor Mohamed Faizal argued that Char had planned the attack, deliberately sourced a weapon and selected a timeframe to kill Ong.

“This is not an individual who committed the offence at the spur of the moment. This was an individual who decided a day before that he was going to commit the offence,” he said.

In sentencing Char for committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder, Justice Woo Bih Li said: “It is clear that this is a very serious offence which will ordinarily effect a long-term imprisonment, especially since you lacked insight into your condition. 

“The only reason why I’ve experienced some hesitation of a long-term imprisonment is your advanced age.” — TODAY