Jail for man who fled Singapore for 12 years after fatally stabbing club patron

SINGAPORE: A 55-year-old man who was on the run for 12 years was on Friday (Oct 18) sentenced to 16 years’ jail over the fatal stabbing of a club patron in 2010. 
Lee Heng Wong, then 40, was a bouncer and manager at a disco club in Geylang when he stabbed 23-year-old Xi Wei Feng twice in the thigh and left him bleeding in a stairwell.
Lee fled to Malaysia after learning Mr Xi had died later that day, on Feb 14, 2010.
He was arrested in Malaysia with the assistance of the Royal Malaysia Police and handed over to the Singapore Police Force on Oct 13, 2022.
Defence lawyer Josephus Tan said that Lee, who has a wife and two children in Malaysia, surrendered to the authorities to gain personal closure.
He previously faced a charge of murder, which is punishable by death, but the capital charge was later reduced.
Lee pleaded guilty to one count of culpable homicide under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code, which carries a punishment of life imprisonment, or up to 20 years in jail with a fine and caning.
The prosecution had sought 15 to 18 years in jail, while the defence had asked for not more than 11 years’ imprisonment.
Mr Xi, the victim, had been drinking at De Basement Live Disco from the evening of Feb 13, 2010. Over the course of the night, he became drunk and disruptive.
Around 1.30am, he had to be escorted off the premises by employees at the disco after he fought with other patrons.
Around 2am, he returned and confronted other patrons at a stairwell. They exchanged vulgarities and Mr Xi tried to kick one of them, but lost his balance and rolled down the stairwell.
Lee heard this commotion and went to the stairwell, where he saw Mr Xi lying at the bottom of the stairs.
Lee told Mr Xi to leave, but the younger man continued lying on the ground, shouted a vulgarity at Lee, and kicked him in the stomach.
Lee went back into the disco and picked up a knife with a blade at least 17.7cm in length.
The disco’s bartender saw Lee holding the knife and tried to stop him, telling him “don’t” in Hokkien. But Lee brushed past him.
Returning to the stairwell, Lee stabbed Mr Xi twice in the left thigh and left him to bleed. Lee did this to “teach him a lesson”, according to court documents.
After this, Lee went back into the disco and threw the knife in a wash basin. He told the bartender he had stabbed Mr Xi, and continued with his duties in the disco.
Sometime before 4am, Mr Xi was still lying in the stairwell in a pool of blood when he was discovered by an investor of the disco. The investor and a bouncer of another club tried to give him medical assistance.
The other bouncer called emergency services at about 6.30am. Mr Xi was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 7.40am.
The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy said that the cause of death was primarily bleeding, and that death would have taken “a considerable time”.
“It may have been possible to save (Mr Xi’s) life if prompt surgical attention with blood replacement had taken place,” court documents stated.
Lee had seen the two men tending to Mr Xi when he ended his shift and left the disco at about 4am.
Later that morning, he learnt that Mr Xi had died, and decided to flee to Malaysia to escape punishment.
He remained at large for 12 years and eight months until he surrendered to the Malaysian police on Oct 11, 2022.
In sentencing arguments, Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh said that Lee’s abscondment was already factored into the prosecution’s proposed sentence.
Mr Koh also highlighted that Lee had used the knife with “enough force to bury almost the entirety of the blade in the deceased’s thigh not once, but twice”.
Lee showed “blatant disregard” for Mr Xi’s life as well as nonchalant, almost casual behaviour after stabbing him, the prosecutor said.
He added that Xi was not a threat to Lee, and that Lee did not stab him in defence.
Mr Koh also said that Lee’s actions were premeditated. He had “ample opportunity” to change his course of action, but made a considered decision to retrieve the knife and stab Mr Xi.
Lee’s defence lawyers Mr Tan, Mr Cory Wong and Mr Silas Siew of Invictus Law said that their client “naively underestimated” the effects of his actions.
He believed that Mr Xi was “in good hands” and thought that by informing the bartender of the stabbing, others would handle the situation, they said.
“Mr Lee laments on hindsight that he himself should have just called for ‘995’ instead of assuming reliance upon others for his own foolish actions back in that heat of the moment,” they said.
Mr Tan also argued that Mr Xi was not “motionless” or “harmless”, but Justice Valerie Thean interjected: “How is he not harmless? He’s lying there on the ground, he’s clearly injured by the fall.”
Giving the sentence, Justice Thean noted that as a club bouncer, Lee was employed to maintain law and order, but introduced “excessive violence and aggression” instead.
She said that even if Mr Xi was rude to Lee, he was clearly vulnerable and defenceless. She agreed with the prosecution that Lee showed blatant disregard for Mr Xi’s life and acted in a nonchalant way.
However, she also took into account that Lee indicated his intention to plead guilty early on, once the prosecution’s case was ready.