SINGAPORE – Cheng Guoyuan, the man responsible for a horrifying cleaver attack on his wife outside a row of Beach Road restaurants in 2022, has been sentenced to 19 years in prison and eight strokes of the cane. The verdict, delivered on June 3, followed his guilty plea to a charge of attempted murder on May 20.
The 49-year-old’s assault, which shocked Singapore and went viral on social media, left his wife Han Hongli, 44, with life-altering injuries. Her left hand was nearly severed, her left eye blinded, and her face permanently disfigured. She also lost the tip of her right ring finger and sustained significant impairment to both arms.
The court heard that Cheng, a kitchen assistant who arrived in Singapore from China days before the incident, meticulously planned the attack. He targeted Han, who worked as a restaurant manager nearby, intending to kill her if she did not promise to stay silent about an undisclosed wrongdoing he had committed against her daughter, now 23, from a previous marriage.
Cheng had a strained relationship with his wife, especially after she discovered what he had done to her daughter in April 2021. Though she eventually accepted 40,000 yuan (S$7,200) in compensation for her daughter, Han made clear she would never forgive Cheng and might still report his actions.
Haunted by the fear that Han would expose him to family and friends, Cheng devised a plan to silence her permanently. On April 14, 2022, he attacked Han in broad daylight with a wooden-handled cleaver he had taken from work. The brutal assault began in a back lane between Liang Seah Street and Middle Road. When the handle broke, Cheng pressed the blade to her neck. As Han tried to flee, he pursued her, retrieved a second cleaver from her restaurant’s kitchen, and continued the attack after catching up with her outside a hotel.
Bystanders attempted to intervene, throwing objects at Cheng and yelling for him to stop. Undeterred, he resumed the assault until police arrived and tasered him after repeated commands to surrender were ignored. Cheng had also injured himself during the attack by slashing his own wrists and neck.
In court, Justice Audrey Lim condemned Cheng’s “relentlessness,” noting that his violent determination and return to continue the assault even after being driven off once reflected extreme premeditation and malice. The prosecution sought life imprisonment and 8 to 12 strokes of the cane, citing the attack’s severity and public nature. The defense requested a lighter sentence of 15 years and five strokes.
Ultimately, the judge rejected life imprisonment but imposed a severe 19-year jail term and eight strokes of the cane, underscoring the attack’s brutality and lasting impact on the victim.
The Beach Road cleaver attack has become one of the most disturbing public assaults in Singapore’s recent memory, sparking national conversations about domestic violence, public safety, and the importance of early intervention in abusive relationships.
