Ang Mo Kio market drama: Man fends off slasher with stool
Benjamin LimThe New Paper
Monday, Jan 20, 2014
THE DRAMA
SINGAPORE - The cook said he was buying frozen food at an Ang Mo Kio stall when he heard a shout from behind him: "You don't repay the money you owe me, I'll kill you."
But before Mr Oh Teck Kui could react, he felt a sharp pain on his right arm.
He said that blood gushed from his arm as he turned around and saw a man he knew brandishing a chopper.
The man, Mr Oh's one-time gambling buddy, was allegedly attacking him.
"I had nothing to protect myself with, so I blocked the next blow with my left hand and got slashed on the index finger," said Mr Oh, 47, in Mandarin from his bed at Khoo Teck Puat hospital last night.
The drama unfolded at about 10.45am on Thursday at Ang Mo Kio 628 Market, and Mr Oh said he owed his life to a stool he used to block the attacks.
He said his first instinct when he was attacked was to run. But he realised quickly that he would not make it.
"I was afraid that I would lose consciousness and the attacker would hurt my wife," said Mr Oh, whose wife, Madam Angela Loh, 46, had accompanied him on his marketing trip.
So he turned around and grabbed a stool to fend off his assailant's attacks.
Mr Oh then wrestled the attacker to the floor between the market and the hawker centre.
He claimed that while they were struggling, the man repeatedly poked his back with the blade of the chopper.
Meanwhile, Madam Loh kept shouting for help.
She claimed the scuffle went on for about 10 to 15 minutes.
She also said that although there was a group of onlookers, no one tried to intervene and break the two men up initially.
"I was terrified. Blood was gushing out of my husband's wound like a tap," she said from his hospital bedside.
The fighting stopped only after Mr Oh managed to disarm his attacker and put the chopper out of his reach with the help of a butcher at the market.
He said: "If not for the stool, I would surely have been killed."
When The New Paper visited Mr Oh at the hospital, he was recuperating from a two-hour operation that involved stitches on his right arm.
Police said a man will be charged in court today.
Last month, the attacker allegedly shoved Mr Oh from the back when he walked past his stall
.
The two quarrelled and got into a tussle. Mr Oh hit his head on a table during the fight and suffered a cut.
THE DISPUTE
Mr Oh Teck Kui said he first came to know his attacker at the Ang Mo Kio 628 Market.
The cook also claimed that they had been feuding over gambling debts for about 10 years.
He said that in 2003, they were friendly enough for him to lend his attacker, who runs a drinks stall, more than $10,000 to help clear his debts.
He had never chased the man for repayment, he said, but trouble brewed when Mr Oh joined the drinks stall owner in gambling activities and got hooked.
He claimed he quickly lost around $20,000.
Mr Oh said he was then forced to recover his money from the man. He also borrowed money from him to clear his gambling debts.
Mr Oh added that the man grew impatient when he could not repay him in time.
Over the next few years, he would harass Mr Oh each time they met, even hurling vulgarities and threats at him and his wife, claimed Mr Oh.
He said: "I tried to explain to him that after cancelling out the money that we had borrowed from each other, I owed him only about $5,000 to $6,000, which I would pay him through instalments after I got a job.
"But he was not satisfied and continued harassing my family."
Mr Oh has six children - four daughters and two sons aged between 11 and 27.
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The cook said he was buying frozen food at an Ang Mo Kio stall when he heard a shout from behind him: "You don't repay the money you owe me, I'll kill you."
Mr Oh Teck Kui, 47, said that his attacker had been harassing him and his family for years before he used a chopper to slash him
His first instinct was to run, but he realised that he would not make it. So he turned around and grabbed a stool to fend off his assailant's attacks.
The chopper that was used in the attack, retrieved by police from the scene.
A hawker was arrested on Thursday morning for hacking a friend with a chopper at Block 628 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4, reported Shin Min Daily News.
The Chinese evening daily said that the suspect is believed to have bought the chopper after seeing the victim at a hawker centre where he owns a coffee stall.
The suspect is known only as "Ah Song".
Shin Min understands that the victim has been owing the suspect a sum of money for some time.
An eyewitness told the paper that the victim was making a purchase at a dessert stall when Ah Song surprised the victim from behind and started attacking him with the chopper.
The bloody aftermath of a fight at the hawker centre
Mr Mohd Rahid, 33, who works at the butcher stall, rushed in to help and separate the two men.
Police officers had cordoned off the area.
The coffee stall (in blue) was where the attacker worked.
Blood spurted onto the trousers of Mr Neo Zhou Tong, an aquarium stall owner, at the Ang Mo Kio market-cum-food centre.
Benjamin LimThe New Paper
Monday, Jan 20, 2014
THE DRAMA
SINGAPORE - The cook said he was buying frozen food at an Ang Mo Kio stall when he heard a shout from behind him: "You don't repay the money you owe me, I'll kill you."
But before Mr Oh Teck Kui could react, he felt a sharp pain on his right arm.
He said that blood gushed from his arm as he turned around and saw a man he knew brandishing a chopper.
The man, Mr Oh's one-time gambling buddy, was allegedly attacking him.
"I had nothing to protect myself with, so I blocked the next blow with my left hand and got slashed on the index finger," said Mr Oh, 47, in Mandarin from his bed at Khoo Teck Puat hospital last night.
The drama unfolded at about 10.45am on Thursday at Ang Mo Kio 628 Market, and Mr Oh said he owed his life to a stool he used to block the attacks.
He said his first instinct when he was attacked was to run. But he realised quickly that he would not make it.
"I was afraid that I would lose consciousness and the attacker would hurt my wife," said Mr Oh, whose wife, Madam Angela Loh, 46, had accompanied him on his marketing trip.
So he turned around and grabbed a stool to fend off his assailant's attacks.
Mr Oh then wrestled the attacker to the floor between the market and the hawker centre.
He claimed that while they were struggling, the man repeatedly poked his back with the blade of the chopper.
Meanwhile, Madam Loh kept shouting for help.
She claimed the scuffle went on for about 10 to 15 minutes.
She also said that although there was a group of onlookers, no one tried to intervene and break the two men up initially.
"I was terrified. Blood was gushing out of my husband's wound like a tap," she said from his hospital bedside.
The fighting stopped only after Mr Oh managed to disarm his attacker and put the chopper out of his reach with the help of a butcher at the market.
He said: "If not for the stool, I would surely have been killed."
When The New Paper visited Mr Oh at the hospital, he was recuperating from a two-hour operation that involved stitches on his right arm.
Police said a man will be charged in court today.
Last month, the attacker allegedly shoved Mr Oh from the back when he walked past his stall
.
The two quarrelled and got into a tussle. Mr Oh hit his head on a table during the fight and suffered a cut.
THE DISPUTE
Mr Oh Teck Kui said he first came to know his attacker at the Ang Mo Kio 628 Market.
The cook also claimed that they had been feuding over gambling debts for about 10 years.
He said that in 2003, they were friendly enough for him to lend his attacker, who runs a drinks stall, more than $10,000 to help clear his debts.
He had never chased the man for repayment, he said, but trouble brewed when Mr Oh joined the drinks stall owner in gambling activities and got hooked.
He claimed he quickly lost around $20,000.
Mr Oh said he was then forced to recover his money from the man. He also borrowed money from him to clear his gambling debts.
Mr Oh added that the man grew impatient when he could not repay him in time.
Over the next few years, he would harass Mr Oh each time they met, even hurling vulgarities and threats at him and his wife, claimed Mr Oh.
He said: "I tried to explain to him that after cancelling out the money that we had borrowed from each other, I owed him only about $5,000 to $6,000, which I would pay him through instalments after I got a job.
"But he was not satisfied and continued harassing my family."
Mr Oh has six children - four daughters and two sons aged between 11 and 27.
[email protected]
Get The New Paper for more stories.
The cook said he was buying frozen food at an Ang Mo Kio stall when he heard a shout from behind him: "You don't repay the money you owe me, I'll kill you."
Mr Oh Teck Kui, 47, said that his attacker had been harassing him and his family for years before he used a chopper to slash him
His first instinct was to run, but he realised that he would not make it. So he turned around and grabbed a stool to fend off his assailant's attacks.
The chopper that was used in the attack, retrieved by police from the scene.
A hawker was arrested on Thursday morning for hacking a friend with a chopper at Block 628 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4, reported Shin Min Daily News.
The Chinese evening daily said that the suspect is believed to have bought the chopper after seeing the victim at a hawker centre where he owns a coffee stall.
The suspect is known only as "Ah Song".
Shin Min understands that the victim has been owing the suspect a sum of money for some time.
An eyewitness told the paper that the victim was making a purchase at a dessert stall when Ah Song surprised the victim from behind and started attacking him with the chopper.
The bloody aftermath of a fight at the hawker centre
Mr Mohd Rahid, 33, who works at the butcher stall, rushed in to help and separate the two men.
Police officers had cordoned off the area.
The coffee stall (in blue) was where the attacker worked.
Blood spurted onto the trousers of Mr Neo Zhou Tong, an aquarium stall owner, at the Ang Mo Kio market-cum-food centre.
metal shelf fall on lao ah ma now got unker chop each other 
