# Murder of Eddie Seah

On 10 October 2022, 19-year-old Sylesnar Seah Jie Kai (Chinese: 谢杰凯; pinyin: Xiè Jiékǎi) stabbed his father, 47-year-old Eddie Seah Wee Teck (Chinese: 谢伟德; pinyin: Xiè Wěidé) to death on the common stairwell of their flat in Yishun, Singapore. Eddie Seah was said to be abusive to his wife and three children, of which Sylesnar Seah was the youngest. Initially charged with murder, Sylesnar Seah's charge was reduced to culpable homicide; he pleaded guilty to the reduced charge and was sentenced to six years' imprisonment on 30 September 2024.

## Background

Sylesnar Seah, born in 2003, was the youngest child of Eddie Seah and his wife. He had an older brother and an older sister. Their father had a strained relationship with his wife and children, as he often drank alcohol and verbally abused them while intoxicated, and previously physically abused the children when they were younger. When Sylesnar was 11, his older brother moved out of the family home after allegedly having his laptop smashed by their father.

## Attack

On the evening of 10 October 2022, an argument broke out between Seah and his father. Seah was provoked when his father called him "ah gua", a slur typically used to refer to transvestites, and asked him if he dared to "chop someone with a knife". Seah responded by grabbing a knife from the kitchen and slashing his father on the chest. Seah began to fear that his father would kill him, as his father had been involved in gang fights during his youth and previously made threats that he would kill Seah one day.
A next-door neighbour of the Seahs said that while the family did have loud arguments in the past, they had been on good terms in the six months before the murder, hence the murder came as a shock to him.

## Trial

The trial of Sylesnar Seah took place on 30 September 2024, nearly two years after the murder. The prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutors Derek Ee and Jordy Kay, while Sylesnar Seah was represented by defence lawyers Sunil Sudheesan and Joyce Khoo from Quahe Woo & Palmer. The trial judge was Justice Dedar Singh Gill. Seah pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The prosecution sought 7 to 12 years’ jail for Seah, while the defence asked for not more than five years. Neither side sought caning.
Seah was assessed by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) while in custody after killing his father. He was found to be suffering from chronic adjustment disorder with depressed mood, and “other specified depressive disorder" or OSDD at the time of the offence.
The prosecution and defence both agreed that Seah killed his father out of a genuine fear that his father would later kill him, and so Seah decided to act first. However, the prosecution believed that Seah had an opportunity to avoid violence when his father walked out of the flat without retaliating.
The prosecution acknowledged the accumulated stress that Seah’s father had caused Seah over the years, but believed that Seah should not have taken things into his own hands by killing him. They asserted that the slashing was vicious with Seah using two knives and slashing his father at least 24 times, and the fact that it took place on the common HDB stairwell, a public area, could have caused public unease.
The defence argued that Seah had an "overwhelming impulse to neutralise his father" and "was not thinking through the consequences of his actions". While Seah was not found to be of unsound mind, Seah’s OSDD had substantially impaired his capacity to know the wrongfulness of his acts, and his capacity to control his actions.
Justice Dedar Singh Gill sentenced Seah to six years’ imprisonment. Justice Gill said he took into account Seah’s young age, mental condition and remorse which resulted in his timely plea of guilt. He added that Seah’s likelihood of reoffending was low.