No foul play in case of man, 78, found dead in SingPost Centre stairwell: Coroner

While there was no medical evidence to suggest cognitive decline, a 78-year-old man who was found dead in a stairwell could have been in a confused state.

State Coroner Adam Nakhoda acknowledged that while Mr Soh Eng Thong's daughter said he was not suffering from dementia, CCTV footage that captured his final moments suggested he was confused.

To that end, he agreed with the police that there was no foul play involved in Mr Soh's death.

In delivering his findings on Aug 6, the coroner said that on Aug 27, 2021, Mr Soh had informed his son he was going to a distant relative's wake before leaving his Haig Road home.

At about 1am on Aug 28, 2021, he told his son over the phone that he was still at the wake when his son called him.

But there was no such wake happening at the time.

"Moreover, this information was also clearly wrong as he would have been at the stairwell at the time," the coroner said.

CCTV had captured Mr Soh entering the stairwell around midnight.

The elderly man's body was found only on Aug 31, 2021, at the SingPost Centre stairwell.

A coroner's inquiry was opened on March 28 as there were concerns raised over the circumstances that led to his death.

Mr Soh's cause of death was established to be due to a hypertensive heart disease with the police not suspecting any foul play.

Investigations had revealed he had a history of hypertension and high blood pressure.

Said the coroner: "There was evidence from his visit to Changi General Hospital in December 2016, and a polyclinic visit in 2017, that he may not have been fully compliant with his medication."

He pointed out that if the condition was not managed, patients can develop an enlarged heart - which was the case for Mr Soh according to a post-mortem CT scan.

"There were no external or internal injuries, and no evidence of any traumatic injuries that could have caused his demise," said the coroner.

Police investigation officer (IO) Shannon Ng said in an earlier hearing that Mr Soh had arrived at SingPost Centre at 8.30pm on Aug 27, 2021.

CCTV footage from the mall shows him heading to a loading bay and walking in circles for around 20 minutes before a security guard guided him back to the retail section of the mall.

Mr Soh was seen leaving the mall at 9.05pm but returned more than two hours later at 11.20pm.

He then walked to the loading bay and took a lift back into the mall's retail section. He was last seen entering the stairwell near midnight.

Mr Soh's daughter called him the next morning as he had not returned home. He told her he was at SingPost Centre and that "the door cannot open".

She had recalled that her father still sounded energetic on the phone. But when he failed to return home, she phoned him again at 10am.

Mr Soh did not answer the call but managed to call her back shortly after, informing her that his legs felt weak. She told him she would bring him home by taxi and headed to the mall. But she did not see him at the taxi stand when she arrived.

She called him again at noon, but he did not answer his phone from then on.

State Coroner Nakhoda said the series of events suggested that Mr Soh could have suffered from cardiac arrest by that point and was no longer able to use his phone.

Mr Soh's family, police officers and security guards at the mall searched for him over the next four days but failed to find him.

His body was found on Aug 31, 2021, by a cleaner who noticed a foul smell coming from the stairway.

Investigations later determined the stairway that Mr Soh had entered from was fitted with a one-way locking mechanism.

The stairwell, which serves the ground level and three basement levels, can be exited only at the ground level.

A project manager called to the stand said he had received instructions to change the two-way locks to one-way locks at the stairway, and the building had passed an inspection by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

But SCDF investigator Ong Kok Ping, who was called to testify, said that one-way locking mechanisms are not allowed to be fitted on doors of stairwells located next to fire lift lobbies, similar to the stairway Mr Soh was found in.

The coroner emphasised on Aug 6 that he was only able to give his findings into the circumstances surrounding Mr Soh's death, and not to find fault with the involved parties.

He said the SCDF investigator had clearly stated in his testimony that one-way locks should not have been installed in the stairwell Mr Soh was found in.

The investigator had also explained that during a building inspection, the stairwell doors were held open by people accompanying him on the survey, which left him unable to determine if the original two-way locks had been changed.

Said the coroner: "At some point, there was a request by SingPost to change the door locks for some doors for security reasons. Exactly when it was changed has not been clearly established."