Man arrested for threatening landlady

For over two hours on Monday night, about a hundred people watched a crime drama unfold before them as riot police confronted a man who was threatening to kill his landlady.

The 51-year-old man had quarrelled with his landlady, and was waving a kitchen knife at her, according to Chinese evening paper Shin Min Daily News.

The landlady is believed to have locked herself in a room, with the man outside, and called police at about 7pm. She lives in a seventh-floor flat at Block 5, Saint George's Lane.

Residents started gathering at the opposite block - Block 8 - when Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers inflated a life bag at the bottom of Block 5.

Some officers entered units directly above and below the landlady's flat - on the sixth, eighth and ninth floors.

At about 9.15pm, when the man still appeared to be emotional, the officers abseiled down from the ninth-floor unit to the one on the seventh floor.

At around the same time, riot police broke through the flat's front door, and the man was arrested.

A resident told Shin Min that similar incidents had occurred three to four times in the one year since the man began living in that unit, with the police and SCDF being called each time.

Police have classified the latest incident as a case of criminal intimidation. Investigations are ongoing.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 07, 2015, with the headline Man arrested for threatening landlady. Subscribe