List of major crimes in Singapore (2020–present)

For other major crimes committed in Singapore, see List of major crimes in Singapore.

This incomplete list is frequently updated to include new information.

The following is a list of major crimes in Singapore that happened in 2020 and beyond. They are arranged in chronological order.

2020

• 3 January 2020: Paul Leslie Quirk, a 48-year-old schizophrenic Australian, was arrested at his condominium at Compassvale after he allegedly killed his 43-year-old Singaporean wife Christina Khoo Gek Hwa by whacking with the mop stick many times, and threw his dog off their home's third-floor balcony, causing it to die from the effects of the fall. Initially charged with murder, Quirk was found guilty of a lesser charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder as he was suffering from a relapse of his schizophrenia at the time he murdered Christina Khoo. Quirk was later sentenced to serve a 10 year jail sentence on 24 May 2021.
• February 2020: Four-year-old Megan Khung Yu Wai was allegedly killed by her mother and her mother's boyfriend. Three months later, in May 2020, the couple enlisted the help of a friend to dispose of the corpse by burning it. Subsequently, on 20 July 2020, after the girl's grandmother reported Khung missing after losing contact with the girl for months, the police managed to establish that Khung had died and arrested the three suspects. Khung's 24-year-old mother and the 33-year-old boyfriend were charged with murder, while the couple's 30-year-old friend was charged with helping the couple to abandon the corpse. All three suspects are currently pending trial with respect to Khung's alleged murder.
• March 2020 – 10 November 2020: For eight months, an 11-year-old girl, whose name was withheld due to a gag order, was physically abused by her stepfather Mohamad Fazli Selamat and mother Roslinda Jamil inside their Jurong flat. The girl was reportedly made to eat chilli padi or being beaten with an exercise bar or other objects as punishment for supposed misbehaviours she had. On 6 and 7 November, Fazli, who worked as an auxiliary policeman, used the exercise bar to batter his stepdaugher multiple times, with the mother acting as bystander and never intervened. The cruel attack led to the death of the 11-year-old victim at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital. Fazli and Roslinda, both 26 years old, were arrested and charged with murder, and eventually, in February 2023, Fazli pleaded guilty to manslaughter and another five counts of child abuse while Roslinda pleaded guilty to allowing the death of her child in the same household and child abuse. Fazli was sentenced to 15 years and 11 months' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane on 15 February 2024, while Roslinda was jailed for seven years, eight months and three weeks, but she was not given caning because she was a female.
• 10 May 2020: Tay Rui Hao, a 38-year-old jogger, was stabbed by a 22-year-old man Surajsrikan Diwakar Mani Tripathi; Tay succumbed to his injuries in hospital. Surajsrikan was arrested around a week later after a footage of the murder was gathered from a CCTV camera. Surajsrikan was reported to have emotional distress on the date of 10 May; in 1999, his father abandoned his then-pregnant mother about two months after the marriage, and in 2018, he was enlisted by the military. He was assessed to be suffering from borderline intelligence, and both severe social anxiety disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder, though he was mentally sound and fit to stand trial. Surajsrikan was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with 15 strokes of the cane on 15 September 2022. This case also prompted the government to pass laws to allow police to obtain data from TraceTogether for police investigations.
• 27 August 2020: A 24-year-old Chinese national Cui Huan beat up his 27-year-old wife Liang Xueqiu after being caught of an affair with another man; Liang died from Intracerebral hemorrhage as a result of the injuries. They were married in 2016 and had a child, and came to Singapore three years later to seek employment. Initially charged with murder, but was lowered to a charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt in November 2021; he was then indicted on 15 February 2022 with a seven-year jail term and nine strokes of the cane.

2021

• 2 April 2021: 49-year-old Naing Lin, a cleaner on a work permit from Myanmar, used a knife to stab his roommate Myo Kyaw Thu, a 49-year-old engineer who is also from Myanmar, after he was provoked by Myo's insult which took place in the aftermath of their argument over Myo's issue of borrowing money from others despite his job. After stabbing Myo five times, Naing left the flat to spend the night in another place before he returned the next day, having unable to contact Myo, who was discovered dead due to the excessive bleeding from the knife wounds. Naing surrendered himself to the authorities, who charged him with murder, for which he was convicted as charged and sentenced to life imprisonment on 22 September 2022 after Naing pleaded guilty; however, he was not caned due to his age.
• 12 April 2021: In the first case of an armed robbery involving firearms in 15 years, a debt-ridden 38-year-old Aetos auxiliary police officer Mahadi Muhamad Mukhtar was armed with his service revolver to rob a licensed moneylending company at Jurong amounting to more than $24,800, which he used part of the proceeds to clear his debts and remit some to his girlfriend. Mahadi was convicted on 13 September for one charge of robbery and two charges of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition under the Arms Offences Act, and he was sentenced to 16 years and six months' imprisonment and 18 strokes of the cane. Mahadi's girlfriend was initially charged with dishonestly receiving stolen property in the same month of Mahadi's arrest, but was acquitted by the court in August 2022 following further investigations. In May 2023, an appeal reduced Mahadi's term to 14 years, although his caning remained at 18.
• 19 July 2021: A 16-year-old River Valley High School student, who could not be named under the Children and Young Persons Act, murdered a 13-year-old student Ethan Hun Zhe Kai via an axe and a kitchen knife. He was subsequently arrested and charged with murder the following day, and these weapons were recovered on the scene in a toilet. The attacker was found to have previously attempted suicide in 2019 and subsequently assessed at the Institute of Mental Health that same year. On 1 December 2023, the charge was subsequently reduced to culpable homicide not amounting to murder; the student pleaded guilty and served a 16-year jail sentence. The sentence was imposed by Justice Hoo Sheau Peng over detterence and noted that the student had went through premeditation and planning to kill Hun.

2022

• 11 January 2022: David Brian Chow Kwok-Hun murdered his wife Isabel Elizabeth Francis, who was 15 weeks' pregnant at the time of death, through stabbing whilst asleep. Chow did this because he would want to attempt to commit suicide following a misunderstanding of his company going bankrupt over a wrong accounting report, and that he would relieve Francis' fear of being a widow; he ultimately surrendered himself to the police following two unsuccessful attempts. He was jailed for seven years following the court indicting him a reduced charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder on 26 October 2023.
• 21 January 2022: A pair of 11-year-old twin boys with disabilities, Ethan and Aston Yap, were found dead in a canal next to a playground along Greenridge Crescent. Their father, Xavier, was arrested the day after. Following psychiatric investigations of major depressive disorder of moderate severity, the court reduced his charge to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and on 15 August 2023, pleaded guilty with a 14-year jail sentence.
• 17 February 2022: A knife-wielding man was shot by police officers during a confrontation outside Clementi Neighbourhood Police Centre at around 11pm. The man was identified to be 49-year-old Soo Cheow Wee who was involved in an earlier assault case that happened around 8:40pm where police were alerted that a 41-year-old man was allegedly assaulted with a knife by the same suspect along Block 420A Clementi Avenue 1. The 41-year-old man has sustained injuries on his right arm and wrist. Preliminary investigations revealed that neither of them knew each other. In a statement, the police revealed that right after the first incident took place, Soo took a taxi to Clementi Police Division and was seen wielding a knife while standing outside the police station. Officers that were on duty approached Soo but he was shouting at the police officers incoherently and despite repeated instructions to drop his knife, the suspect refused to do so and charged towards one of the officers, who fired a shot at Soo. Soo suffered a gunshot wound on his left arm and was detained by the officers, before he was taken to hospital for treatment. Soo was charged in court on 18 February 2022 for criminal intimidation and voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon, and on 26 October 2022, Soo, who turned 50 before his September 2022 trial, was convicted and sentenced to 33 months' imprisonment for committing these armed assaults, and he escaped caning due to his age. In April 2023, the prosecution appealed for a sentence of at least five years' corrective training or a jail term of 57 to 63 months on the grounds that Soo's sentence was "manifestly inadequate" while Soo's defence lawyer Chooi Jing Yen sought to further reduce his client's sentence to 23 months. On 31 July 2023, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon dismissed the prosecution's appeal but allowed Soo's appeal, and lowered his sentence from 33 months to 27 months, after finding that Soo's mental condition was not adequately taken into consideration by the district judge during sentencing. In the meantime, with respect to his current sentence, Soo would be released tentatively in August 2023 should he maintained good behaviour while in prison.
• 6 April 2022: Niswan Thiruchelvam and Muhammad Sajid Saleem both used bread knives to attack two wedding guests, Praveen Raj Chanthiran and Sarankumar Subramaniam, at an open-air carpark. They were arrested through a manhunt, and was charged for voluntarily causing grievous hurt; Niswan was additionally charged for being a member of an unlwaful assembly, in which he joined a gang in 2016 and was given a three years and three months of jail sentence and six strokes of the cane; he also was fined S$1,800 and given a 12-month driving disqualification for a separate traffic offence. Sajid pleaded guilty on 2 November, while Niswan was separately tried and convicted after he pled guilty to his charges a week later and the court determined the sentence on 30 November.
• 14 April 2022: A Chinese national attacked a woman with a cleaver outside a restaurant located at along Beach Road. Several colleagues and workers from other restaurants managed to save the victim from the attack and endured a retaliation from the man itself in the process; he was eventually cornered in another restaurant where police officers managed to subdue him with a taser. He was charged two days later for attempted murder.
• 4 July 2022: A China-born Singaporean PR and his Thai wife, who were both wanted in connection with a luxury goods scam amounting to S$32 million in undelivered goods, fled to Singapore by hiding in a container compartment of a lorry departing for Malaysia; the two Malaysian drivers were arrested for abetting the couple to flee and illegal entry. An Interpol red notice was issued for the couple on 21 July. They were arrested on 11 August in a hotel in Johor Bahru and was deported to Singapore. Investigations are ongoing.
• 10 October 2022: Sylesnar Seah killed his father Eddie following an argument at the flat around midnight, and was arrested immediately with a charge issued on 12 October.

2023

• 14 January 2023: A 31-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman were both charged with abusing and causing grievous hurt respectively to their two-month-old biological daughter, who suffered a fractured skull. The girl, whose identity was originally withheld due to a gag order, died sometime after her parents were arrested. With the death of the baby, whose name was Zabelle Peh Yu Xuan, her mother Sim Liang Xiu was charged with murder while her father Peh Wei Jian faced another charge of allowing the death of his daughter in the same household, and the gag order was also quashed with the girl's death. The couple are currently awaiting trial as of 2024.
• 15 August 2023: Ten foreigners originally from China were arrested for the largest case of money laundering in Singapore to date, where a total of $3 billion were seized during the investigations. The ten offenders, consisting of one female and nine males, were sentenced to jail terms ranging from 13 months to 17 months in 2024.

• 20 August 2023: At Concorde Hotel along Orchard Road, 29-year-old Mohammad Isrrat Mohd Ismail and another man, aged 23, were severely injured during a brawl with more than ten people. Mohammad Isrrat was pronounced dead in the hospital while the other victim was hospitalized. 14 suspects (13 males and one female aged between 22 and 32) were arrested for the fatal assault of Mohammad Isrrat; one of the suspects, 29-year-old Asvain Pachan Pillai Sukumaran was charged with murder while another 16 suspects (all male) were charged for various lesser charges ranging between rioting and causing hurt. On 25 June 2024, 24-year-old Sharvin Jay Nair was sentenced to 12 months and eight weeks' jail and fined S$2,000 for causing hurt to Isrrat. Another was acquitted of all charges and a third was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal as of June 2024.

• 30 October 2023: At Victoria Street, a 38-year-old man was charged after attacking 2 police officers with stun device; samurai sword among weapons seized. Various drug paraphernalia and controlled drugs – 236g of Ice, 11g of heroin, 56 Erimin-5 tablets and two Ecstasy tablets – were also found. The 32-year-old officer, Staff Sergeant Khairulanwar Bin Abd Kahar, suffered back injuries and was taken to the hospital. He has since been discharged with medical leave, the police said. The other officer, Sergeant (Sgt) Muhammad Afiq Yahya, suffered injuries to his left hand and leg.

2024

• 29 March 2024: 28 people residing in Singapore between the ages of 18 and 59 were arrested for various charges relating to child sexual exploitation. For five weeks, the Singapore Police Force collaborated with the Hong Kong Police Force and South Korean National Police Agency to arrest a total of 273 suspects, with the youngest being 12 years of age.
• 6 September 2024: A 41-year-old Chinese national Wu Tao was accused for the murder of 48-year-old female hawker Tan Kamonwan inside a stall called Dao Xiang Ju, located at Kadayanallur Street, next to Maxwell Food Centre; preliminary investigations revealed that both parties knew each other.

See also

• Capital punishment in Singapore
• Life imprisonment in Singapore
• List of major crimes in Singapore