Victims reveal more details of Kallang slashings

SINGAPORE — The attack, which lasted “about one to two minutes”, came from “all directions”. This was according to a man who was seriously injured in a spate of violent robberies in May 2010 that left another person dead.

Testifying in the High Court, Mr Sandeep Singh said yesterday he was talking with his younger brother on the phone at a playground at Block 44, Sims Drive, at around 11pm on May 29, 2010, when he felt “a very sharp pain” at the back of his head. Hit “repeatedly” by the sharp object, he fell to the ground and shouted for help.

“I do not know how many times in all that I was hit over the head,” said Mr Singh, 27. “I just kept saying in English: ‘What is my mistake’.”

He managed to stagger to the lift landing, where the attacks stopped. “By this time, I realised that I was bleeding badly from my head and left hand. The turban that I was wearing at the time had also come off my head,” said Mr Singh, an Indian national.

Two men from Sarawak — Micheal Anak Garing, 25, and Tony Anak Imba, 34 — are on trial for the murder of a 41-year-old construction worker, Mr Shanmuganathan Dillidurai.

They are accused of causing fatal injuries to Mr Shanmuganathan, when Micheal allegedly slashed the Indian national with a parang.

Micheal and Tony are part of a group of four men — all from Sarawak and working here — who carried out four violent robberies from the late night of May 29, 2010 to the early hours of May 30, 2010. Hairee Landak, 22, was sentenced to 33 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane in January, after he pleaded guilty to armed robbery with grievous hurt. An alleged accomplice, Donny Meluda, 22, is at large.

Justice Choo Han Teck yesterday allowed evidence relating to the other robberies to be admitted in the murder trial, Defence lawyers had objected to it last week, arguing that it was prejudicial to their clients.

The trial also heard the statement of another victim, Mr Egan Karuppaiah, who was attacked at around 8.30pm on May 29, 2010 while he was walking along the path behind Kallang MRT Station. Mr Karuppaiah, 42, said he tried to avoid a group of four men walking towards him, but they moved to deliberately block him from walking past them. One of the men then punched him on his left eye.

“All of a sudden, I felt both my hands drop. I did not have the energy to lift my hands,” he recalled. Mr Karuppaiah had his arms almost hacked to the bone.

The trial continues. Micheal and Tony have been charged under a less severe part of the murder offence, which gives the court the discretion to impose life imprisonment with caning, if they are convicted. Amanda Lee