Man who killed mother, grandmother while high on LSD detained indefinitely

SINGAPORE — A 25-year-old man who killed his mother and grandmother at their Commonwealth Avenue home while high on the psychedelic drug LSD in 2019 was on Friday (23 September) ordered to be detained at the President's pleasure by the High Court.

Gabriel Lien Goh was acquitted of two charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder on the grounds of unsound mind.

Last year, he had already received a one-year-and-10-months' jail term for his drug offences.

Stabbed mother in chest, head

On 27 October 2019, Goh, who was serving full-time national service, consumed an LSD tablet after lunch. He took another tablet about 1.5 hours later.

At the time only his mother Lee Soh Mui, 56, grandmother See Keng Keng, 90, and Indonesian maid Admini, 40, were home.

Later in the evening, Goh left home and returned about five to 10 minutes later with a knife. Shortly after, Admini heard Lee shout from Goh's room.

The maid went to the room to find Goh standing in front of Lee, who was on the floor. He had stabbed his mother in the chest and then plunged the knife into the right side of her head.

Punched grandmother

Admini and See left to get help from their next-door neighbour, a 35-year-old man. But before they could enter the house, Goh punched his grandmother in the face, causing her to fall and hit her head on the metal railing along the corridor and her dentures to fall out.

When the neighbour told Goh to calm down, he too was punched. Admini then brought See, who was bleeding in the face, into the neighbour's home and sat her on a stool.

When Goh grabbed the maid's wrist, she broke free and ran out of the unit to call a friend and Goh's elder brother, telling them to call the police.

When See asked her neighbour for tissue paper paper as she was bleeding, Goh said "no" and stared the the 35-year-old neighbour and his 61-year-old mother.

The neighbour tried to calm Goh down again, but was instead repeatedly punched in the face till he fell to the floor. When the neighbour's mother shouted for the assailant to stop, she too was punched till she fell.

Goh then turned back to his grandmother and repeatedly punched her as she sat on the stool before he left the flat.

The neighbour and his mother immediately locked the door and windows to the home. They noticed that See's upper body had slumped on the floor with the back of her head in a pool of blood. Her face was also covered in blood. The neighbour called the police.

Pinned down by passers-by

Passers-by saw Goh at a sheltered walkway nearby with blood on his hands. He shouted at them and when one passer-by asked him to calm down, Goh punched the 52-year-old man in the face, causing him to fall to the ground.

When two other men aged 66 and 70 went to restrain Goh, he punched them both as well. The three passers-by eventually managed to pin Goh down until police arrived.

Both Lee and See were pronounced dead by paramedics in the respective neighbouring units. The knife was embedded in the former's head, but Lee was found to have died from the stab wound to her chest which punctured her heart. Meanwhile, See died from multiple head injuries, including broken bones in the head and jaw.

Investigations revealed that Goh started taking LSD in December 2018. Police found drugs in the storeroom of his flat and he said he bought them from Geylang.

A government psychiatrist found that Goh was of unsound mind at the time of the offence although this was due to his voluntary consumption of LSD.

He admitted that the took the tablet out of curiosity and wanted "to see more intense, vivid psychedelic colours", according to the Statement of Agreed Facts between prosecutors and defence lawyers.

Between January and March 2019, Goh was seen as an outpatient at the Institute of Mental Health's National Addictions Management Service for alcohol use disorder/alcohol dependence. He also admitted to experimenting with other drugs including cannabis and nitrazepam.

Do you have a story tip? Email: sgnews.tips@yahooinc.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter. Also check out our Southeast Asia, Food, and Gaming channels on YouTube.