21-year-old man who grew up under abusive father jailed for slashing him to death after being taunted

SINGAPORE: A 19-year-old man who was charged with murdering his father at a Housing Board block in Yishun pleaded guilty on Monday (Sep 30) to a reduced charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Seah Jie Kai Sylesnar, who is now 21, was sentenced to six years’ jail. The judge said that the “unsavoury treatment” by the victim did not deploy a permit to the young man to end a life with such violence.

Seah admitted to the charge and a set of court documents that laid out how his alcoholic father had abused him, his mother and his two older siblings over the years.

Things came to a head in October 2022, when Seah’s father taunted him by calling him a slur for a transvestite and asking if he dared to “chop someone with a life”.

Angered and humiliated, Seah fetched a knife from the kitchen and slashed his father on the chest with a flesh wound.

However, the young man began fearing that his father – who was in gang fights in his youth – would kill him. According to his lawyers, he remembered his father’s past threats that he would kill Seah one day.

The young man decided to make the first move and armed himself with two knives. 

On the evening of Oct 10, 2022, Seah found his 47-year-old father, Seah Wee Teck Eddie, near the lift on the fifth floor of Block 653, Yishun Avenue 4 where they lived.

Seah then attacked his father with the knives, aiming for his head and neck region as he intended to decapitate him for a quick death.

His father blocked some blows, struggled and pushed Seah towards the staircase leading to the fourth floor. 

The pair tussled between the two floors, before the older man walked towards the fourth floor and collapsed at a neighbour’s flat in a pool of blood.

Seah, who had followed his father as he was worried for him, shouted for someone to call the police.

According to his defence lawyers, Mr Sunil Sudheesan and Ms Joyce Khoo from Quahe Woo & Palmer, Seah felt “overwhelmed” after his father collapsed.

He told his father: “I really hated you for a while.”

In response, his father said: “I’m sorry. I love you. Please forgive me.”

According to the defence, Seah then asked his father to kill him, but when his father did not move, Seah placed a knife on his own neck.

His father purportedly told him “don’t do it, it isn’t worth it”.

Seah then laid down next to his father and yelled for the police until they arrived, the lawyers said.

An autopsy found at least 24 wounds on the victim’s body, and he was certified to have died from bleeding from a wound to the neck.

THE ALLEGED ABUSE

According to the statement of facts, the victim had a strained relationship with his wife and children as he was verbally abusive towards them.

He drank alcohol regularly and often verbally abused his family members when intoxicated. He had also physically abused his children when they were younger.

According to the defence, Seah’s parents often drank and fought when he was younger, and he would lock himself in his room.

His father often chastised him, asking him to “be a man, not a girl”, the lawyers alleged.

They said the victim often “boasted about being a gang member”, delighted in getting a reaction and laughed if he upset his children.

Seah claimed that his father would cane him and leave marks, with his sister describing the caning on Seah as “not normal and overly harsh”. 

Seah’s father was also known to break plastic balls on the head of Seah’s brother and throw books at him, the defence alleged.

“Our client was not allowed to cry during punishment as his father viewed crying as a weakness and it made his father angrier. As a result, our client trained himself not to show any emotions,” said the defence.

They said Seah avoided being at home, where he felt unsafe, instead heading out and taking jobs during school breaks.

Seah’s older brother moved out of the family home when Seah was 11, after allegedly having his laptop smashed by the victim.

HIS MENTAL CONDITION

The defence said Seah contemplated suicide multiple times around 2015, but stopped himself when he thought of how upset his mother would be.

When his mother was diagnosed with cancer in November 2021, Seah blamed his father and contemplated suicide again.

After killing his father, Seah was assessed by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) and found to be suffering from two conditions at the time of the offence: Chronic adjustment disorder with depressed mood, and “other specified depressive disorder” or OSDD.

The psychiatrist found that Seah was not of unsound mind. However, the OSDD had reduced his capacity to know the wrongfulness of his acts, and his capacity to control his actions.

A second psychiatrist who assessed Seah found that his psychiatric condition as per a March 2024 report was in remission and that his risk of reoffending is low, with a good long-term prognosis.

The statement of facts concluded that Seah had repeatedly slashed his father’s neck with two knives with the intention of killing him.

He did so while suffering from OSDD, an abnormality of mind that substantially impaired his capacity to know the wrongfulness of his acts, and his capacity to control his actions.

The prosecution sought seven to 12 years’ jail for Seah, while the defence asked for not more than five years, urging the court “not to give up on this young man who now must live with the scars of his actions”.

Neither side sought caning.

VIOLENCE BY TAKING A LIFE NOT JUSTIFIED: PROSECUTION

Deputy Public Prosecutors Derek Ee and Jordy Kay said one cannot take justice into his own hands, even if they find themselves in “unfortunate situations” such as Seah’s.

“We accept it was a terrible situation for the accused to be in, but even if one finds themselves in that situation … (with) a significant source of stress at home, violence by taking that person’s life is not the answer and it’s not justified,” said Mr Ee. 

He said the killing took place in public, with bloodshed at the scene that would have caused public unease.

Seah had a “deep resolve in wanting to kill his father”, and the viciousness of the attack was highlighted by the amount of injuries caused on the victim, said Mr Ee.

He said the figure of 24 incised wounds to the body was a “conservative count”, with some of these wounds comprising multiple ones. At least nine of the 24 wounds were on the victim’s head and neck.

Mr Ee added that Seah’s mental condition of OSDD was “not the most severe” and that his depressive disorder was not as severe as major depressive disorder.

“A life has been lost, and despite his young age and mental disorder, the accused must bear the consequences of his actions,” said Mr Ee.

Defence lawyer Ms Khoo said the prosecution and defence were in agreement that Seah’s act of killing his father “stemmed from a real fear that his father would kill him”.

She said her client had an “overwhelming impulse to neutralise his father” and “was not thinking through the consequences of his actions”.

“This man before your honour today is a compliant and passive one. Oct 10, 2022 was the first time our client acted physically towards his father,” said Ms Khoo.

In sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill said he took into account Seah’s age, the medical evidence on his mental condition, and his remorse which has resulted in a timely plea of guilt.

He noted that Seah is unlikely to reoffend in a similar way and that his long-term prognosis is good.

He said this was a “very tragic case” and allowed Seah a few moments with his family before being taken away.

The young man’s mother, sister and brother were in court for the hearing, with his mother bursting into tears when she went forward to speak with Seah through the gap in the glass after sentencing.

Culpable homicide not amounting to murder can draw two types of penalties: Life imprisonment and caning, or jail for up to 20 years, a fine, or caning.