SINGAPORE — Hours after a heated dispute over his damaged laptop, a 39-year-old man attacked his uncle with a bread knife.

Mohd Heirizal Kamarzaman fractured and almost severed Mr Ahmad Sharip’s thumb during the attack at their Tampines home around 9pm on Jan 31, 2019.

He was upset that Mr Ahmad, 61, refused to pay for repairs after the older man’s cat knocked a can of beer over the laptop.

Heirizal also accused his uncle of wanting to chase him out of the house where they lived.

On Friday (July 23), Heirizal was jailed five years, two months and seven weeks, and given eight strokes of the cane.

His jail term was backdated to when he was remanded after his arrest following the assault.

Heirizal pleaded guilty last month to one charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt to his uncle as well as two unrelated charges of voluntarily causing hurt to a Bangladeshi cleaner and making a nuisance call to the police.

Six other charges, including harassment, were taken into consideration during sentencing.

The court previously heard that Heirizal argued with Mr Ahmad before leaving the house to drink.

When he returned, he became upset again and told his aunt who was visiting at the time that he needed money to repair his laptop.

He then retrieved a bread knife from the kitchen and marched towards Mr Ahmad, who was in the middle of a shower.

Heirizal kicked the toilet door until it gave way and started slashing his uncle several times. 

Mr Ahmad injured himself while fending off the attack with his left hand.

Heirizal left the toilet and slashed the mattress in the master bedroom many times.

A neighbour called the police after his aunt ran out of the house to seek help.

Mr Ahmad was given about three months of hospitalisation leave and put on light duty for another three months afterwards.

Before this incident, Heirizal was first arrested in November 2017 after making a nuisance call to the police in which he sang an expletive.

In February 2018, after downing several cans of beer, he punched a 26-year-old Bangladeshi cleaner twice.

The cleaner and his colleague, who were on a buggy, came across Heirizal while working to clear rubbish at a Bedok North housing estate.

Heirizal also tried to damage the buggy’s signal light.

These were not Heirizal’s first brushes with the law.

His last criminal conviction was in 2013, when he was jailed two-and-a-half years, caned and fined for various offences, including those under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act.

For voluntarily causing grievous hurt, he could have been jailed for life or up to 15 years as well as fined or caned.

For voluntarily causing hurt, he could have been jailed for up to two years and fined up to S$5,000. 

And for making a nuisance call, he could have received a jail term of up to a year and a fine of up to S$5,000.