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 schizophrenic Australian, was arrested at his condominium at Compassvale for allegedly killing his Singaporean wife Christina Khoo Gek Hwa using a mop stick and then throwing his dog from the balcony resulting in its death. 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 Khoo. Quirk was later sentenced to serve a 10-year jail sentence on 24 May 2021. 14 January 2020: Teo Yiu Kin Tee was arrested for trafficking 24.81g of diamorphine along with Yogesswaran C. Manogaran, who was his accomplice. On 19 June 2023, both Teo and Yogesswaran were found guilty. But while Teo was awarded the mandatory death sentence, Yogesswaran was sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane. As for Teo Yiu Kin Tee, he was eventually hanged on 7 August 2026 at the age of 79. 21 February 2020: Four-year-old Megan Khung was abused and killed by her mother Foo Li Ping and her boyfriend Wong Shi Xiang. Her corpse was later burned with the help of their friend Nouvelle Chua Ruo Shi about three months later. Khung's grandmother lodged a police report on 20 July which led to the arrest of all three suspects for the murder. On 28 February 2025, Wong pleaded guilty to the manslaughter and abuse of Khung, and Foo pleaded guilty to allowing the death of her child and inflicting abuse, and on 3 April 2025, Wong was sentenced to 30 years in jail with 17 strokes of the cane while Foo was sentenced to 19 years in jail. As of 2025, Chua is currently awaiting trial for helping to dispose of the body. 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 by an exercise bar or other objects as punishment for her supposed misconducts. The girl died from the abuse around 7 November following another abuse from Fazli (her mother Roslinda acted as a bystander). Both parents were charged for murder, but 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. 10 May 2020: A jogger was stabbed to death by a man in Punggol; the attack was recorded by a CCTV camera. About a week after the victim, Tay Rui Hao, was killed, Surajsrikan Diwakar Mani Tripathi was arrested. Surajsrikan was reported to have emotional distress on 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, although 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 Chinese foreigner Cui Huan beat up his wife, Liang Xueqiu, for four years after being caught in an affair with another man. Liang died due to intracerebral hemorrhage as a result of the injuries. Initially charged with murder, the charge was lowered to a charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt in November 2021. He was indicted on 15 February 2022 with a seven-year jail term and nine strokes of the cane. 11 December 2020: A 14-year-old boy (name withheld due to child protection act) killed his father through stabbing with a fruit knife. The boy had been diagnosed with Internet gaming disorder and autism at a young age, and plotted revenge after his father restricted his access to computer games since June that year. He pleaded guilty on 24 January 2022 to a reduced charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the High Court, and the boy was remanded at the Singapore Boys' Home for five years at the time of arrest. This was the first case where a minor committed murder, culpable homicide, attempted murder or causing grievous hurt. Under the Children and Young Persons Act, a detention period has to be imposed instead of a jail sentence.
2021 2 April 2021: A cleaner on a work permit from Myanmar, Naing Lin, stabbed his fellow roommate and engineer Myo Kyaw Thu, also from Myanmar, following an argument and insult over Myo's issue over moneylending. Naing fled from the scene before returning to his dorm to discover Myo was found dead; he surrendered to the police for a murder charge and was 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 Aetos auxiliary police officer Mahadi Muhamad Mukhtar, armed with his service revolver, robbed a licensed moneylending company at Jurong and stole more than $24,800, of 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. 14 July 2021: Heng Boon Chai, a schizophrenic man who was previously jailed for killing his uncle in 2007, was arrested for stabbing his neighbour Kim Wee Ming outside his flat at Punggol. Investigations and court hearings revealed that in addition to previous altercations with Heng and his mother, Kim had harassed Heng with taunts after returning home drunk, and the repeated provocations led to Heng stabbing Kim. Heng was convicted of murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment with ten strokes of the cane on 7 November 2024. 19 July 2021: River Valley High School student Ethan Hun Zhe Kai was killed by a 16-year-old student (who could not be named under the Children and Young Persons Act) 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 was served a 16-year jail sentence. The sentence was imposed by Justice Hoo Sheau Peng over deterrence and noted that the student had gone through premeditation and planning to kill Hun. An appeal to reduce his sentence to 8–10 years was made on 23 October 2023, but was dropped by the High Court exactly a year after its appeal.
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 while she was asleep. Chow did this because he wanted 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 Yap E Chern and Aston Yap Kai Shern, were found dead in a canal next to a playground along Greenridge Crescent. Their father, Xavier Yap Jung Houn, 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, Soo Cheow Wee was shot by police officers during a confrontation outside the Clementi Police Centre at around 11pm. Soo 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 victim 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 immediately 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. While serving his sentence, Soo would be allowed parole in August 2023. 14 April 2022: 46-year old Chinese national Cheng Guoyuan attacked 42-year old Han Hongli 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 officer subdued him with a taser following him ignoring repeated instructions to surrender. He was charged two days later for attempted murder, pleading guilty to that charge on 20 May 2025. On 3 June 2025, Justice Audrey Lim sentenced Cheng to 19 years jail and 8 strokes of the cane. On November 5, 2025, the High Court heard that Cheng was medically certified on September 9, 2025, as permanently unfit for caning. The court did not impose additional jail time in lieu of the caning.