SINGAPORE - A 35-year-old man was found dead on the pavement near the void deck of Block 165A, Teck Whye Crescent, on Wednesday (Aug 16) morning.

Police have arrested a 48-year-old male suspect in connection with a case of murder.

At about 4.42am, police received a call for assistance at the scene. Upon arrival, the victim was found lying motionless.

Upon receiving the report, officers from Criminal Investigation Department and Jurong Police Division immediately began investigating.

They established the suspect's identity at 10.15am. The incident was believed to have arisen from a dispute between the dead man and the suspect, preliminary investigations show.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it was alerted to the incident at around 4.45am, and dispatched an ambulance.

Police officers at the scene of the murder at Teck Whye Crescent

Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene at 4.55am.

The Straits Times understands that the victim, who has been identified as Mr Mohammad Roslan Zaini, was stabbed in the chest.

He had allegedly been chased down the block, which is made up of rental flats, leaving a trail of blood all the way to the pavement.



Mr Mohammad Roslan Zaini was pronounced dead at the scene at 4.55am. PHOTO: FACEBOOK/LAN CELAK



The suspect was arrested in the nearby housing estate, and no weapon has been found yet. He and the Mr Roslan were flatmates.

When The Straits Times arrived at the scene at 11am, police officers were seen gathering evidence in a unit on the fourth floor.

Officers were also seen removing police cordon tape on the ground floor, although a cordon remained on the fourth-floor corridor.



Blood seen on the handrail at the staircase of the block where a man was stabbed in the chest. ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO





Police officers gathering evidence in a unit on the fourth floor. ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO



Housewife Sasha Nuraisah, 31, who lives on the fourth floor, said she heard a commotion at about 4am.

"I heard a woman shouting, 'you don't be crazy'. But I didn't think too much of it, because there had always been fights and shouts in that unit. The neighbours here had to call the police a few times before, and in the past few months, police officers were always coming down."

Ms Ani Noraini, 42, who lives on the same floor, said that fights occurred in the unit at least once a week and would go on for hours, sometimes in the middle of the night. "The police officers come by very often. It's normal."

Ms Ani, who works in the logistics sector, described Mr Roslan as being about 1.65m tall, plump, with dyed blonde hair. He was a divorcee, whose former wife and baby son used to live in the unit with him. The suspect is tall, with natural coloured hair, she added. "I heard muffled shouts in Malay at first, before it became louder."

A fourth-floor neighbour who wanted to be known as Madam Krishna, 53, said that in the past two years, she had called the police more than 10 times. "They've been living here for more than four years. At first, it was okay. But after that, the noises would be so loud that I can't sleep."

Other neighbours also said they had heard clanking noises.



Blood stains at the entrance of the unit. ST PHOTO: NG HUIWEN



A 57-year-old kitchen helper who lives on the fifth floor, said that he heard a commotion at about 3.30am. And when he looked out of the window at about 4am, he saw a dark-skinned man wearing a T-shirt and jeans running into the unit, looking panicked. He said that he did not recognise the man, but it was not Mr Roslan.

"There will be a group of people, more than 10 of them, in the unit every Saturday. They will talk from night into morning," he said. "From the way some of them walk and talk, it looks like they take drugs."

He added that a Central Narcotics Bureau officer approached him about five months ago to ask if he knew the people living in the unit, as they wanted to know if they were doing drugs.

A woman who identified herself as the Mr Roslan's girlfriend said she heard about the incident through a friend who had called her.

Looking visibly shaken and with tears welling up in her eyes, she said: "My friend just told me to come down now, because (my boyfriend) was unconscious."

They had been together since May. Police later took her to the unit.



CID officers seen leaving at about 1.20pm with evidence. ST PHOTO: NG HUIWEN



A woman who lives a few doors away, and declined to be named, told The Straits Times that the occupants of the unit were always partying and creating a ruckus. She added that some men who do not live in the unit are sometimes seen sleeping along the corridor, drunk.

Mr Frankie Tan, 49, who lives next door, said that the suspect used to sleep at a staircase landing for about two years, before Mr Roslan invited him to stay in his flat about six months ago.

"The victim said he pitied him, that's why he invited him to stay together," the warehouse assistant said.

He described the suspect as a polite man, who would sometimes apologise for the ruckus he was making when there were fights.

Houswife Ika Fauzi, 25, said that Mr Roslan was a friendly man, who would chat with her whenever they met. She visits her aunt, who lives a few units away, about twice a week.

She said: "(The victim) would play with my two-year-old son, smile and talk to me. We talked about everything."