SINGAPORE, Jan 10 — A 42-year-old man who purportedly held a woman at knifepoint in Yishun yesterday (January 9) is known to police officers who regularly patrolled the vicinity where the crime happened.

However, he was not wanted by the law, said a police spokesperson during a press conference in the evening.

Preliminary investigations by the Central Narcotics Bureau also revealed that the man’s urine tested positive for controlled drugs.

The man will be charged in court on Tuesday with possessing an offensive weapon in a public place, and the police will seek to remand him at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric evaluation.

The police ascertained that neither the man, whose identity has not been revealed, nor his 60-year-old victim knew each other.

He also did not make any threats or demands when the police arrived at Block 108 Yishun Ring Road at around 7.36am.

Giving more details about the incident, the police said that the woman is a resident of the neighbourhood, and she was walking by Block 108 when she was grabbed by the man.

He then pulled her along with him at knifepoint for about 50m towards Block 110 Yishun Ring Road, where he was subdued and detained by the police officers at the scene.

As a result of the incident, the woman suffered an abrasion on her chin, though it is understood that she did not receive a cut from the knife.

Without providing details, the police added that a member of the public had assisted them, and they are seeking to establish his identity so that they can award him for his courage.

Commenting on the incident, Assistant Commissioner of Police Ang Eng Seng, commander of the Woodlands Police Division, said that the subject involved in this incident posed a grave danger to the public and “demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law”.

“The police officers from Woodlands Division responded quickly, and their decisive action led to a swift and resolute outcome.”

He added that residents around the scene of the crime should not be alarmed by this one-off episode.

Eyewitness account

The standoff ended when police officers tackled the 42-year-old suspect, said eyewitnesses who also saw the woman fall in the process.

Cindy Tan, 52, a supervisor of the coffee shop at Block 110 Yishun Ring Road, told TODAY in Mandarin: “I’m not sure why she fell down, maybe from stress or nervousness, but when she fell onto the floor, the police pulled her away from the man and the rest of the officers tackled him.”

The police clarified during the press conference that the woman might have fallen in the process of being rescued by the police when officers separated her from the man.

Some customers of the coffee shop and the woman’s relative, whom she usually patronises the coffee shop with, also helped the police take down the man.

“Even after he was tackled by officers, the man was still retaliating, struggling against them,” Tan added.

TODAY spoke to three workers and stall owners from the coffee shop.

The workers said they knew the 60-year-old woman as a regular patron, and that she works as a cleaner, but they were unsure of where she works.

“She comes with her male relative every weekday at around 8am,” Tan said.

According to her, the confrontation between the man and the police took place at around 8am and lasted for around 30 minutes.

“I heard an auntie say there was a robbery happening but I wasn’t sure of what was going on,” Tan said.

“I saw the police, and then I saw the man holding a knife to the woman’s throat.”

She and other employees were told to move away as police confronted the man.

“The victim kept very quiet as the man was talking, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.

“This is my first time seeing something like this happen,” Tan said.

Witnesses said there were about 20 to 30 people gathered around, watching the situation unfold.

After the man was arrested, the victim declined to be taken to the hospital, choosing to stay at the coffee shop instead.

Madam Nor Linda Abdullah, 60, owner of a Malay food stall at the coffee shop, said she had spoken to the victim, one of her regular customers, as she sat at the coffee shop to calm down after the man was arrested.

The victim had told Linda that the man had been lingering outside the lift at the void deck, and began following her after she came out of the lift.

“The (victim) is very close to one male relative; they always come to buy food together in the morning. Today, only the lady’s relative was there to order their food so I was wondering why she wasn’t with him,” Linda said.

She then saw the woman being held by a man as they walked past the coffee shop.

Moments later, Linda’s son told her what was happening as police arrived at the scene.

“When I saw the knife and found out what was happening, I was very scared, I was shivering, because this was a lady I knew,” she said.

Suppiah Tamilchelvan, 64, a worker at an Indian food stall at the coffee shop, said that he noticed that the man had a cigarette in his mouth as he held the knife with one hand and grabbed the woman with the other.

Workers also said they did not recognise the man.

Anyone found guilty of possessing an offensive weapon can be punished with up to three years in jail and given not less than six strokes of the cane. ― TODAY