NSF dies after being pinned down at Block 279 Yishun Street 22 by childhood friend and stepfather

A 26-year-old full-time national serviceman, Shawn Ignatius Rodrigues, died from traumatic asphyxia with a head injury after being assaulted at the lift landing of Block 279, Yishun Street 22 on July 9, 2016. Rodrigues, who had known his attacker Ryan Xavier Tay Seet Choong since their days as altar boys at the Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea, had been the subject of more than 50 police reports filed by Tay's family over alleged harassment spanning more than two years. Tay stamped on Rodrigues' shoulder, punched his face and head repeatedly, forced his face to the ground and pressed his knee into his back for approximately 20 minutes, while his stepfather Lawrence Lim Peck Beng sat on Rodrigues' buttocks and held down his legs. In October 2020, Tay was sentenced to four years' jail and Lim to eight months after both were convicted of voluntarily causing grievous hurt; police subsequently clarified there was no evidence Rodrigues had made threats, damaged property, or assaulted any member of Tay's family.