Man, 59, dies after fatal fight between neighbours in Lengkok Bahru; one person arrested
Zaihan Mohamed Yusof, Fatimah Mujibah and Claudia Tan
The Straits Times
July 21, 2026
A man has died following a fight between neighbours at Block 55 Lengkok Bahru on July 20.
Alerted to the incident at about 4.45pm that day, the police went to the scene and found a 59-year-old man lying motionless at the 16th floor lift lobby, the police told The Straits Times on July 21.
He was taken to the hospital, and later died.
The police said they arrested a 59-year-old man at the scene. Preliminary investigations revealed both men knew each other.
When ST visited the block at about 11.45am on July 21, some residents said they had heard a commotion.
A 49-year-old resident who lives on the 15th floor said there had been a longstanding feud between the two neighbours.
The resident, who moved into the same block about four years ago, said the two men, who lived several units apart from each other on the 16th floor, would start arguing in the morning.
He believed the deceased lived in a three-room unit, while the other man was in a two-room flat.
“They would be topless and start shouting Hokkien vulgarities at each other from about 7.30am,” he said.
The neighbour, who had not spoken to both men, said: “No one thought it would escalate to this.”
Another neighbour who declined to be named said a knife was thrown from the 16th floor and landed in front of a coffee shop.
There have been several reported knife-related incidents in recent months.
There were 137 knife-related incidents in 2025, a slight increase from the 131 cases in 2024, said the police in their annual physical crime numbers in February.
On Sept 24, 2025, a violent attack over a noise dispute between neighbours resulted in the death of a 30-year-old Vietnamese woman.
The fight allegedly broke out in the morning at Block 323 Yishun Central, with a man using a knife to injure the woman and her husband.
The man, Koh Ah Hwee, 66, was charged with murder the next day.
On May 26, a 21-year-old woman died after she was stabbed by a 22-year-old man near the lift landing on the 12th floor of Block 248 Choa Chu Kang Avenue 2.
The man, who later fell from the same block and was taken to hospital, was charged with murder.
A 70-year-old man died on March 9 after he got into a fight with a 48-year-old man in a red light area in Geylang. ST understands that the elderly man suffered stab wounds to the chest.
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