HE had bumped into the man who lived in the unit below his at Block 107 Commonwealth Crescent almost daily.
But in Jul, technician Ho Keng Chuen, 38, suddenly whipped out a knife and stabbed him twice.
On Tuesday, District Judge Ms Wong Choon Ning sentenced Ho to two years and three months in jail and eight strokes of the cane.
Before he was sentenced, Ho told the district court that he did know know the man whom he stabbed before the incident although he would greet him whenever they met.
He added, 'There was some misunderstanding.'
According to court documents, Ho lived on the 10th floor of the block while the victim, hawker Yee Chan Seng, 47, lived directly one floor below.
In the early hours of July 28, Mr Yee, who was out, received a call from his wife telling him that Ho was loitering outside their flat. When he returned home, he spotted Ho outside his unit and confronted him.
Without a word said, Ho assaulted Mr Yee, even using a knife with a 16cm-long blade to stab him on his left shoulder and chest.
Ho then returned to his own flat, which he shared with his younger brother. Mr Yee called the police.
Ho, who has previous convictions for drug offences, was later arrested.
Mr Yee was taken to Alexandra Hospital where he underwent an operation and was warded for a lacerated spleen and a broken rib.
