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'Gratuitous brutality': Youth gets over 3 years' jail, 2 strokes of cane for 2021 Depot Road slashing over suspected debt

SINGAPORE — Believing that a stranger owed them money, an 18-year-old boy and a fellow secret society member hatched a plan to attack him while he was attending a wedding. After buying knives, and in full public view, they slashed the victim repeatedly at many parts of his body until he lost consciousness. 

'Gratuitous brutality': Youth gets over 3 years' jail, 2 strokes of cane for 2021 Depot Road slashing over suspected debt
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  • One of the men behind a savage slashing on Depot Road was sentenced to jail and caning
  • The assailant, aged 18 at the time, and another man allegedly bore grudges towards the victim, believing he owed them money
  • They were said to have hatched a plan to attack him with knives while he attended a wedding 
  • The pair then slashed him until he lost consciousness 

SINGAPORE — Believing that a stranger owed them money, an 18-year-old boy and a fellow secret society member hatched a plan to attack him while he was attending a wedding. After buying knives, and in full public view, they slashed the victim repeatedly at many parts of his body until he lost consciousness. 

The teenager, now aged 20, committed the offence soon after his release from reformative training for committing a violent crime involving a knife when he was aged 17.

He was sentenced on Tuesday (Jan 3) to three years and two months' jail and two strokes of the cane.

He had pleaded guilty earlier to one charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, one charge of being a member of an unlawful society, as well as an unrelated charge. Four other charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

He cannot be named because he was under 18 at the time of some of his offences and is therefore subject to provisions to protect his identity from being made public under the Children and Young Persons Act. 

The case against his co-accused, 21-year-old Joel Elliot Andrew, is pending. 

WHAT HAPPENED

On Nov 14, 2021 sometime in the afternoon, the two were hanging out together. 

At the time, both of them were allegedly members of a secret society. The accused had been released on May 5, 2021 on supervision from reformative training for a previous offence, which is a regimented rehabilitation programme for offenders under the age of 21 who commit relatively serious crimes. 

While hanging out, they started talking about the 37-year-old victim. They bore grudges towards him as they believed that he owed them money. 

The younger man also thought that the victim had belittled his secret society and Andrew had allegedly previously fought with the victim as well. 

However, court documents stated that the victim did not know either of the men at the time of the attack.

After realising that the victim would be attending a wedding at the Sri Ruthra Kaliamman temple at 100 Depot Road that evening, the pair allegedly decided to attack the victim with knives there.

They agreed to meet earlier around Ang Mo Kio to buy the knives they would later use to allegedly assault the victim.

At about 8.45pm that day, they purchased two knives with serrated edges from a shop at Ang Mo Kio Ave 8. They then wrapped the knives in newspapers and kept them concealed in a red plastic bag. 

Armed with the knives, the pair allegedly took a private-hire car to the temple. 

They arrived at about 9.20pm and concealed the knives in their jeans as they searched for him. 

Around 10 minutes later, they spotted the victim talking with other people at the end of Depot Walk and allegedly ran towards him, brandishing their knives. 

Upon seeing the pair running towards him, the victim tried to run away but fell at one point. 

The pair allegedly started slashing him but he eventually managed to escape and continued running, eventually reaching a coffee shop at Block 118 Depot Lane, where there were several people present. 

At this point, the victim slowed down and fell onto a grass patch in front of the coffee shop. While laying on the ground, the youth slashed the victim on his head several times while Andrew allegedly slashed him several times on his limbs and torso. 

Eventually, the victim lost consciousness. 

After a while, the pair stopped and fled to the public housing blocks opposite the coffee shop, throwing their knives into the nearby bushes to avoid being caught by the police.

One of the knives was later recovered. Court documents stated that it was 47.5cm long with a 35cm long blade.  

At about 9.30pm that day, the police were alerted to the incident and the victim was taken to the Singapore General Hospital 25 minutes later. 

Court documents showed that the victim suffered multiple deep cuts on his scalp, with six cuts ranging from 8cm to 14cm. He also had several cuts on his back, left knee and right hand. 

After the pair fled the scene, they took a private-hire car to Bishan, where they met another member of their secret society in a van parked there. 

When they arrived, they changed into some clothes they found in his van and pried open their global positioning system (GPS) tags. The youth was wearing one as part of his punishment over his earlier offence. Court documents did not explain why Andrew was wearing one.

They also asked him to drive them to the youth's house in Yishun, where they left their GPS tags and clothes. 

The youth had asked another secret society member to book a hotel room for them at Sentosa, where they intended to hide from the authorities.

The youth had thought that the police would not patrol Sentosa and was thus a safe place to stay.   

However, they were arrested on Nov 15, 2021 at about 5.40pm. 

'SPECTACLE OF GRATUITOUS BRUTALITY'

Deputy Public Prosecutors Lim Yu Hui and Bryont Chin sought a jail sentence of between three years and 11 months and four years and five months, as well as two to three strokes of the cane. 

They said that the victim had suffered at least 11 cuts, of which six were deep ones on his head, a vulnerable part of the body. 

They added that the incident was “a spectacle of gratuitous brutality”, where the pair had allegedly ganged up with knives on the unarmed victim.

They attacked him with such ferociousness even though before their attack, he gave them no provocation, and throughout their attack, he was defenceless and did not retaliate.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Lim Yu Hui and Bryont Chin

“They attacked him with such ferociousness even though before their attack, he gave them no provocation, and throughout their attack, he was defenceless and did not retaliate,” they said. 

Anyone found guilty of being a member of an unlawful society can be jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$5,000, or both. 

For voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon, the man could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined or caned, or punished with any of these combinations.

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