Man charged with attempted murder: He allegedly poured accelerant on minimart owner

Wong Shiying
The Straits Times
Dec 30, 2022

A 65-year-old man was charged in court on Friday with the attempted murder of a 37-year-old man at Block 210 Marsiling Crescent on Wednesday.

Tay Kheng Hock is accused of pouring accelerant on Mr Tan Khim Hee and setting him on fire with a lighter in front of Heng Hock Minimart.

Mr Tan is registered as the owner of the minimart with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.

Tay is the owner of beauty parlour Wishing Well Beauty Centre. He is also director and shareholder of a company called Sun Beauty.

Appearing in court via video-link, Tay was wearing a red shirt and had a blue mask on.

In a statement on Thursday night, the police said they received a call for assistance in Marsiling Crescent at about 10.10pm on Wednesday.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found Mr Tan with burn wounds, and he was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.

The police said he was conscious, and Tay was arrested at the scene.

On Friday, Senior District Judge Ong Hian Sun approved the prosecution’s request to remand Tay for a week and for him to be taken to the scene for investigations.

Tay is represented by Mr John Koh from Populus Law.

If convicted of attempted murder and hurt is caused, an offender can either be jailed for life and caned, or be jailed for up to 20 years and fined or caned, or both.

As Tay is above 50 years old, he cannot be caned.