A 40-year-old hairstylist was sentenced to 12 years' jail today for stabbing his 48-year-old lover to death after the latter wanted to end the relationship, TODAYonline.com reported.

The news portal said the court heard that Tan Chee Yeow and the deceased Tan Chin Siong, both of them Malaysians, were in a same-sex romantic relationship, since 2007.

The report said their relationship started to deteriorate about three years before the fatal stabbing on Sept 4 last year.

Chee Yeow wanted to be 'publicly recognised' as Chin Siong's partner, but the latter wanted to keep their relationship low-profile and hid it from his parents, it said.

The report said the pair had visited a psychiatrist on Aug 31, and Chin Siong had been advised to delay the intended breakup by two weeks while Chee Yeow started on his medication to 'stabilise his emotions'.

But later on, the report said Chin Siong called the psychiatrist again as he wanted to end the relationship immediately.

Chee Yeow had told Chin Siong even if he wanted to end their relationship, he should "do it slowly and not so suddenly as he (Chee Yeow) could not take it."

Chee Yeow stabbed his boyfriend twice on the chest and once on the back before a passerby near the Ang Mo Kio MRT station stopped him, said the report.

In sentencing, Judicial Commissioner Audrey Lim said Chee Yeow had deliberately brought a knife along with him and had the intention to kill the deceased.

He knew what he was going to do and made a conscious decision to take a person's life, the judge was quoted as saying. -- Bernama