Jail for man who ran from the law for over 12 years following 2011 knife attack

SINGAPORE – A man who went on the run for more than 12 years after he attacked another man with a knife in 2011 was sentenced to two years and 10 weeks’ jail on May 15.

Singaporean Teo Lye Chye, now 61, surrendered himself to the authorities in October 2023 as he missed his family.

He pleaded guilty in April 2025 to multiple charges, including assault and leaving Singapore from an unauthorised place.

In earlier proceedings, the court heard that he left Singapore from a jetty in Changi and ended up in Malaysia. The prosecutor did not disclose further details on how Teo left the country.

The assault took place in January 2011 over a domestic situation involving Teo’s wife and the victim, who were said to be behaving intimately with each other.

Before the attack, Teo’s wife and daughter had drinks with the victim and his daughter in the wife’s Ang Mo Kio flat from about 1am on Jan 25, 2011, Deputy Public Prosecutor Intan Suhaily Abu Bakar told the court.

Court documents did not disclose the status of Teo’s marriage at the time of the incident.

Teo’s 20-year-old son saw the victim behaving intimately with Teo’s wife, and a dispute broke out among Teo’s family members at around 3am.

After the son was asked to leave the flat, he called and told his father what happened.

Teo, who was living in a rented unit in Toa Payoh at the time, took a kitchen knife and arrived at his wife’s home at around 6am.

Teo and his son, who did not know that his father had a knife, walked towards a bedroom where Teo’s wife and the victim were sleeping. They kicked the door open, and Teo slashed the victim once across his chest and abdomen.

The 50-year-old victim suffered injuries including a lacerated spleen and now has a permanent scar on his abdomen.

After the attack, Teo ran out of the flat, threw the knife into a rubbish bin, and got into a taxi.

Police officers patrolling the area near his wife’s home responded to calls for help shortly before 6.30am. An ambulance rushed the victim to hospital, where he underwent surgery before he was discharged.