Warning: This report contains references to suicide
SINGAPORE: A mentally ill man who defaulted on his treatment decided to act on a voice telling him to kill someone before taking his own life.
He went to Kallang Wave Mall where he targeted a 31-year-old woman who was there with her boyfriend and an acquaintance and stabbed her in the chest.
The victim’s companions chased down and restrained him. When the police arrived, the attacker repeatedly demanded that they shoot him and said “I kill her so that you can shoot me”.
Chua Jing Yuan, a 27-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty on Monday (Nov 2) to attempted culpable homicide causing hurt.
He was suffering from major depressive disorder with psychotic features, which significantly contributed to his offending as it severely compromised his judgment, the court heard.
THE CASE
Chua was first seen at Jurong Polyclinic in May 2021 for anxiety.
He was referred to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, where he was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder with obsessive compulsive symptoms.
He underwent treatment and was observed to have improved but defaulted after an appointment on Mar 20, 2023.
Chua’s mental state subsequently deteriorated and he reported hearing a voice telling him to kill someone else before drinking bleach to end his own life.
On Jul 13, 2025, Chua decided on act on the voice’s instructions. According to him, the voice insisted that he dress fully in black and purchase bleach, a knife, a hammer and a set of black clothing.
Chua went to Jurong Point with a shopping list of the above items in his phone.
He bought black clothes, a black backpack, a box of black face masks, a box of gloves, a 1.5 litre bottle of bleach, a claw hammer and a kitchen knife from the mall.
He then went to a stairwell where his sister lived and packed the items into the backpack. He then changed into the new attire before placing his old clothes into a riser compartment, intending for his family to locate them after he died.
At about 12.30am on Jul 14, 2025, Chua went to Kallang Wave Mall intending to carry out his plan.
He put on a black face mask and a glove on his right hand, wandering the premises for almost an hour to find a suitable target.
Around this time, the victim was drinking in a bar at the mall with her boyfriend and an acquaintance.
At about 1.20am, the victim went to the restroom and Chua spotted her.
He decided to kill her, turning to her and telling her to wait a moment.
When she stopped, and Chua retrieved the knife from his backpack before stabbing the victim in the chest, believing this was the fastest way to kill her.
The victim rushed back to her companions, who went looking for Chua. He had fled in search of a place to kill himself.
They spotted him trying to leave the mall at the ground floor and gave chase.
Chua tripped and fell shortly after exiting the mall and was restrained by the victim’s companions.
The victim’s boyfriend found a hammer in Chua’s backpack and threw it away, and passers-by at the scene helped subdue Chua and called the police.
Police officers arrived at around 1.30am and arrested Chua, who repeatedly asked them to shoot him.
He also threatened to kill himself and started banging his head on the ground.
Paramedics arrived shortly afterwards and took the victim to hospital.
AFTERMATH
The victim suffered a stab wound over her chest wall and a laceration over her neck and underwent surgery. She remained well post-operatively and was discharged the next day.
She had no injuries to major nerves or vital vascular structures. When she was reviewed in August 2025, she had no significant disability.
She incurred over S$2,510 in medical expenses, of which S$1,590 was covered by insurance.
Chua was assessed by Dr Kenneth Gerard Koh Wun Wu, a senior consultant physician at the Institute of Mental Health, who found that he was suffering from major depressive disorder with psychotic features.
Dr Koh said this was significantly contributory to his offending as it severely compromised his judgment.
He appeared severely depressed and had “mood-congruent auditory hallucinations”, said Dr Koh.
However, Chua was not of unsound mind at the time of the offence and he was fit to plead in court.
Dr Koh said Chua’s condition would have qualified him for a defence of diminished responsibility, as his depression was severe and had badly compromised his judgment.
Diminished responsibility is a partial defence for murder that applies if the accused person’s capacity to know the nature and wrongfulness of his acts or his power to control his acts was substantially impaired by his abnormality of mind at the time of the killing.
Chua was represented by Mr Choo Si Sen and Ms Choo Yean Lin from Tan Lee & Partners.
For attempted culpable homicide causing hurt, he could be jailed for up to 15 years, fined, caned, or given any combination of these punishments.