Man accused of stabbing priest at St Joseph’s Church remanded further for investigations

SINGAPORE: The suspect in a stabbing incident at St Joseph’s Church was on Monday (Dec 2) placed on further remand to assist with investigations.
Basnayake Keith Spencer, a 37-year-old Singaporean, is on remand for one week with permission to be taken out for investigations.
This comes after he was remanded for three weeks for psychiatric assessment.
The judge scheduled the next hearing in Basnayake’s case for Dec 9.
Basnayake was charged on Nov 11 with one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by a dangerous weapon to Father Christopher Lee Kwong Heng.
He is accused of using a foldable knife to stab Father Lee in the mouth at about 6.30pm on Nov 9 at St Joseph’s Church in Upper Bukit Timah.
The charge stated that the action caused an 8cm-long laceration on Father Lee’s tongue, a 3cm cut on his upper lip and a 4cm cut on the corner of his mouth.
The stabbing endangered the life of Father Lee, the charge stated.
Father Lee, who is the parish priest of the church, received surgery to close his wounds and was discharged on Nov 15.
The attack occurred during communion at the parish’s monthly children’s mass.
Following the incident, police stepped up patrols at places of worship.
According to Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, Basnayake is Singaporean Sinhalese and had previously declared to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority that he is Christian.
Preliminary investigations indicated that he acted alone, with the police not suspecting that the attack was religiously motivated or an act of terrorism.
A person convicted of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapon can be sentenced to life imprisonment or up to 15 years’ jail, a fine and caning.