86-Year-Old Man Hacks Partner To Death After Dispute Over Bedrooms, Gets 15 Years In Jail

An 86-year-old man in Singapore will spend the rest of his life behind bars after admitting to killing his domestic partner in 2019 following a dispute about their rooming arrangement.

Pak Kian Huat was sentenced Monday to 15 years in jail for the killing of 79-year-old Lim Soi Moy after pleading guilty to one charge of culpable homicide, Channel News Asia (CNA) reported. He was originally charged with murder.

Pak hacked his partner to death using a chopper inside the Housing and Development Board apartment that they shared after they argued over which bedroom he was allowed to sleep in.

Judge See Kee Oon described the attack as "deliberately and unspeakably vicious and brutal."

"It was a senseless attack on a defenseless victim," Judge See stated. "He set out to kill the victim because of his self-induced and wholly misplaced perception of grievance."

The court heard that Lim suffered 54 injuries throughout her body, including 31 injuries to her head, according to Today Online. Pak's multiple blows using the chopper also left the victim with multiple fractured bones.

Pak was arrested on Sept. 1, 2019, shortly after killing Lim at their apartment at Block 191, Lorong 4 Toa Payoh.

Pak and Lim never formally tied the knot but had four children together — two daughters now aged 59 and 54, as well as two sons aged 52 and 50.

The couple's relationship soured over the years as Pak was allegedly "bad-tempered and abusive" toward Lim and their children. They separated in 1980 but reconnected through their children in 2004.

Lim allowed Pak to move in with her at the apartment, where they slept in separate bedrooms. They kept a third bedroom unoccupied for their children when they would return temporarily to Singapore from their work abroad.

In August 2019, Pak asked to sleep in the bedroom reserved for their children because he felt that the dust in his own bedroom made him suffer from the flu and a bad cough. He was allowed to do so but would have to move back to his own bedroom whenever any of the children stayed with them.

Pak was set to return to his bedroom by Sept. 1, 2019, as one of their sons was coming back, according to CNA.

Pak asked Lim on the night of Aug. 31, 2019, if he could continue living in the third bedroom, but she rejected his request.

A prosecutor said Pak "grew angrier" over the next several hours until he eventually took a chopper to Lim's room and attacked her using it at around 3:30 a.m.

When police arrived, Pak told them that he had killed Lim and that Lim wanted him dead. He also said he suspected some of their children were not fathered by him.

"I am glad that I am able to kill her, I almost failed to kill her," Pak told authorities in Mandarin.