SINGAPORE - A 38-year-old man stabbed at Boon Tat Street on Monday (July 10) afternoon died from his wounds in hospital. A 69-year-old man was arrested in relation to the case.

The police said in a statement on Monday night that they have classified the case as murder. The 69-year-old suspect will be charged in court for the offence of murder, which carries the death penalty, said the police.

Mr Vinnie Ang, who works at nearby eatery A Poke Theory, told ST that he walked out of the store and tried to help the victim up, but the suspect pushed him away.

Mr Ang said: "He said, 'That's my son-in-law. Don't help him. Let him die.'"

He added that he stood aside in shock and saw the man putting down a knife.

He said the older man also called someone on his phone: "The man said in a mix of English and dialect, 'I couldn't sleep at night. I have already done it. I have already stabbed him. Don't cry. I'm old already and I'm not afraid to go to jail. What's done is done.'"

Mr Ang said a woman was standing near him, crying, and she said to him: "Boy, don't stand there."

An eyewitness who gave his name as Simon, a 31-year-old who works in finance, was eating at nearby food outlet FYR Cycene Ond Drinc when he saw a man running past with his T-shirt covered in blood.

"He was just shouting 'Call police, police'. He looked scared. It was unreal, like something out of a movie," he told The Straits Times.

An eyewitness said the victim was found lying face down in a pool of blood.

The Straits Times understands that the stabbing occurred at a coffee shop at the junction of Boon Tat and Telok Ayer Streets and that the victim was Spencer Tuppani s/o Shamlal Tuppani.

Ms Eevon Loo, a 29-year-old assistant manager at A Poke Theory, called the police. She said a regular customer rushed into the shop and said someone was bleeding and lying on the floor outside.

"The attacker was just standing there, with the knife still in his hands, just looking at the man on the ground. He was very calm, it was so scary."

She described the knife as about 10cm long and "very sharp".

"He then placed the knife on one of our food trays and just stood there till the police came."

She said all the customers in the shop were shaken: "We locked the front door quickly, as the man was holding the knife. And we got customers to exit from the back."

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it responded to an incident at 25, Boon Tat Street at 1.25pm and took a man in his 30s to Singapore General Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 2.13pm.

Customer service executive Zoe Tan, 26, did not witness the incident but said she saw police officers handcuffing the suspect.

"He was very neatly dressed. He was very calm and looked like he was prepared for the police to come and arrest him," Ms Tan added.

Engineer Jeffrey Lim, 55, said there were about 100 passers-by at around 1.30pm. He saw the suspect being taken away by police.

The victim was already in an ambulance by then, he said.

"There was a lady in her 30s, with short hair, crying loudly about a few metres from the pool of blood," he said. "But I don't know if she's related to the victim."

When ST arrived at Boon Tat Street, specks of blood could be seen on the street, but some people at the coffee shop said they were unaware of the incident.

Mr Yen Yin Leong, a 70-year-old who sells peanut pancake along Telok Ayer Street, said: "It was lunch hour. Peak period for all of us. I didn't notice anything at all. Nobody suspicious. Only when the police put up the cordon then I realised an incident happened."

The police said in a statement on Monday that they received a call at 1.22pm, requesting for assistance at 27 Boon Tat Street.

"Upon arrival, a 39-year- old man was found lying motionless at the said location. He was conveyed unconscious to Singapore General Hospital, where he was subsequently pronounced dead at about 2.13pm," said the statement.

Investigations are ongoing.

The police cordon was still up along Boon Tat Street, from the Telok Ayer junction to Cecil Street at 3pm on Monday. Telok Ayer Street is still open to motorists.