SINGAPORE - A warrant of arrest has been issued for a jobless drug addict convicted of slashing his neighbour with an illegal samurai sword, after the 64-year-old did not show up in court on Wednesday for sentencing.
Abdul Rahman Ibrahim had pleaded guilty on Sept 9 to hurting 41-year-old Yun Yew Lee in the victim's HDB flat, after their relationship soured over a partially-returned debt.
At about 4pm on June 6, knowing that his neighbour's door would be left open as usual, he stormed into Mr Yun's third-floor flat in Commonwealth Crescent, brandishing a mini samurai sword and a chopper taken from his own kitchen.
Using the sword, which had a 32-cm blade, Abdul Rahman twice slashed Mr Yun, 41, who was lying on a mattress in the living room talking to his nephew, 12. He stopped the attack when Mr Yun's brother came out of a room and later left the scene, leaving Mr Yun with a 5cm laceration on his arm.
His case was up for sentencing on Wednesday morning but was postponed to the late afternoon, after Community Court Judge Mathew Joseph asked the prosecution during the morning hearing to make further submissions on the jail term he was to receive.
But Abdul Rahman, who was present at the morning session, later failed to return to court. His 53-year-old brother, Yusof Ibrahim, who had raised the $5,000 bail money to keep him out of jail, told the court his brother had given many excuses for not coming back, including claiming to be in hospital with stomach pain.
Judge Joseph granted the prosecution's application for a warrant of arrest.
Abdul Rahman cannot be caned as he is over 50. Besides the hurt charge, for which he faced up to seven years in jail and a fine, he had also pleaded guilty to trespassing in Mr Yun's home, and admitted to having the sword without any lawful authority.
But on Wednesday, it emerged in court during the morning session that Abdul Rahman had been arrested on Tuesday for drug offences unrelated to the crimes he was about to be sentenced for. Given his history of drug-related convictions dating back to 2002, his new offences exposed him to a possible long-term prison sentence of more than seven years, the court heard.
