A 52-year-old woman was jailed for 31 months on Tuesday, October 14, for stabbing her husband to death with a foldable knife in Ang Mo Kio in December 2023.
Baniyah Shap, 52, pleaded guilty to seven charges, including one charge of causing the death of her 62-year-old husband, Mohamed Ali Saaban, by performing a rash act. Ali's right thigh was punctured.
According to court documents, Baniyah and Ali got into a fight at the void deck of Block 631 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 just before midnight on December 11, 2023.
Ali attempted to stop Baniyah from yelling at her brother and a friend because of a miscommunication regarding their relationship, which led to the incident.
Baniyah dropped the knife and several keys during their altercation, which caused the blade to protrude. Then, as she struggled with her husband, she held the knife and fully extended the blade.
She once swung the knife and hit Ali in the thigh, causing him to bleed heavily.
Baniyah picked up the bunch of keys with the knife and went home to wash and hide the items before returning to the void deck with a blanket.
She yelled at the people gathered on the void deck to refrain from calling the police or an ambulance. Ali was unresponsive and unconscious by that point.
He was later taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, where he died. At approximately noon on December 12, 2023, he was declared dead.
Given that Ali did not seriously hurt Baniyah during their altercation, Deputy Public Prosecutor Chan Yi Cheng stated that Baniyah had used excessive violence.
He added, as quoted by The Straits Times, "The accused's post-incident reaction further reveals her lack of remorse, having first gone home to clean and hide the knife, and later on returning to the scene and attempting to stop others from giving aid to the deceased."
Taufiq Suraidi, Baniyah's attorney, contended that because she was in a state of shock and panic following the incident, her response could not be seen as lacking regret.
Baniyah, who made an appearance in court via video link, was charged with 15 different offenses, including carrying a weapon in public, cheating, and conspiring with several unidentified individuals to allow unauthorized access to the computer systems of several banks.
Creating bank accounts and giving them to unidentified individuals to conduct unauthorized transactions between 2022 and 2023 are some of her other charges.
More than S$60,000 was laundered from three scam victims using one of the accounts, which was set up in May 2023.
Baniyah might have received a five-year prison sentence, a fine, or both for her reckless act that caused death.
She might have been fined up to S$5,000 and imprisoned for two years for conspiring with others.
An offender who possesses an offensive weapon faces up to six canings and a maximum sentence of three years in prison. You can't cane women.
Baniyah's sentence was backdated to Dec 12, 2023, when she was arrested.
