Corrective training, caning for man who supplied samurai sword, other weapons in Serangoon Road slashing
SINGAPORE — A man who supplied weapons, including a baton and a samurai sword, that were used in a serious slashing incident on Serangoon Road in 2018 has been ordered to undergo corrective training. He will also be caned.
- Arjun Retnavelu, 26, has been sentenced to eight years’ corrective training and 24 strokes of the cane
- He was also given an extra 360 days in jail for reoffending while on remission
- The court heard he had a history of conflict with the victim of the Serangoon Road attack in 2018
- The assault left the victim with serious injuries
SINGAPORE — A man who supplied weapons, including a baton and a samurai sword, that were used in a serious slashing incident on Serangoon Road in 2018 has been ordered to undergo corrective training. He will also be caned.
Arjun Retnavelu, 26, was on Monday (Nov 22) sentenced to eight years of corrective training, along with an extra 360 days in jail for reoffending while on remission. This was for a separate crime related to voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means, which he was convicted of in 2015.
He was also sentenced to 24 strokes of the cane on Monday.
Corrective training is a more serious form of imprisonment imposed when a court finds that an offender needs training of a corrective character for a substantial period. It usually lasts between five and 14 years, and the offender is unlikely to be given early release for factors such as good behaviour.
Arjun pleaded guilty to several serious charges, including:
- Rioting with a deadly weapon
- Being a member of an unlawful assembly
- Carrying offensive weapons in public places
- Voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous means
- Using criminal force on a public servant
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Timotheus Koh told the court that Arjun had a “history of conflict” with the victim, Mr Dhines Selvarajah, who is now 30.
Aside from Arjun, four other people were involved in the slashing that happened in broad daylight along Serangoon Road on July 25, 2018.
At about 2.15pm that day, Arjun and the others were in a car when he spotted Mr Dhines sitting at a bus stop opposite Broadway Hotel on Serangoon Road.
Wanting revenge against Mr Dhines, Arjun asked Dinesh Kumar Ruvy, who was at the wheel, to stop at the side of the road and open the car boot.
Armed with a samurai sword, baton and chopper provided by Arjun, the group set themselves upon Mr Dhines.
Photos taken after the attack and posted on social media showed Mr Dhines lying injured on the road.
He suffered serious injuries that included a partial amputation of his foot and deep cuts.
A few days after the attack, police arrested the men and took Arjun to Lower Peirce Reservoir, where he claimed to have discarded the samurai sword.
The sword was not recovered. It was later established that Arjun had handed the sword, along with the baton, to an accomplice in Yishun.
The weapons have since been seized.
In 2019, the youngest member of the quintet — Sharvin Raj Suraj, now 19 — was sentenced to reformative training, a regimented rehabilitation programme for offenders under 21 who commit relatively serious crimes.
Victor Alexander Arumugam, 27, was in February last year sentenced to one year, five months and a week in jail.
And in April this year, Haresh Shanmuganathan, 25, was given 36 months’ jail and six strokes of the cane.
The case of Dinesh, 30, is still before the courts.
OTHER INCIDENTS
Apart from the incident on Serangoon Road, the court heard on Monday that Arjun had a hand in several other offences.
One of these cases happened on Dec 15 in 2018, months after his arrest for the incident along Serangoon Road.
In this case, Arjun had been interfering in the arrest of two other people for disorderly behaviour, despite being warned by the police not to get involved.
Court documents stated that at some point, Arjun grabbed a police officer’s hand and refused to let go.
When the officer tried to arrest him, he pushed the officer on the chest twice and shouted vulgarities at him, claiming that he was from the “Ang Soon Tong” Triad Society.
Earlier that year, on March 10 in 2018, Arjun agreed to help a man, Pravin Rajendiran, now 26, settle a dispute involving a third person Vinoth Rajendran.
Around 3am that day, Pravin was talking to Vinoth at Leban Park along Upper Thomson Road about their dispute when Arjun approached Vinoth wearing a ski mask and bearing a knife.
Vinoth, then 33, saw Arjun approaching and tried to run away, but he tripped and fell.
This gave Arjun the opportunity to slash him several times.
The attack left Vinoth with wounds all over his body.
DPP Koh said that Pravin stood next to Arjun during the attack.
Pravin was jailed 16 months on Monday for having the common intention to voluntarily cause hurt by means of a cutting instrument.