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Corpun file 7248 at www.corpun.com
The Straits Times, Singapore, 8 June 2001
Jail and cane for attackers in gang fight
They had caused a rival gang member's death
By Wong Fei Wan
A SECRET society gang member died after an early-morning fight in Kallang, which began with his gang, Omega, taunting its rival Sar Lak Kau or 369 as 'not having guts'.
Omega gang member Rasid Saini, 32, stepped forward and punched a member of the 369 gang when they asked who had uttered that taunt.
The 369 gang fought back with wooden planks, pipes and a broken bicycle frame.
The fight began outside the Oasis Restaurant & Nite Club Building in Stadium Road and turned into a running battle at the Shore Gardens Open Park, next to the building.
By the time the police arrived, Rasid had suffered severe head injuries. He died a day later in hospital.
The fight had taken place on Oct 8 last year at about 3.20 am.
A 369 member had quarrelled earlier with the Omega members at a disco.
When one of the 369 members asked who had taunted them, Rasid stepped forth and punched Surendran Pragasam.
Yesterday, nine members of the 369 gang, aged between 16 and 38, admitted belonging to an unlawful assembly and causing grievous hurt to Rasid. They received jail terms of between three and four years.
Jaffar Haron, 38; Mohammed Yusoff Omar, 28; Mohammad Fadzli Abdul Razak, 21; Surendran, 19; Mazuan Mas Seman, 18; and 17-year-olds, Mohammed Shariff Mohd Said Joey, Muhammad Feros Zainal, Mohammed Aidil Mohamed Noor, will also get eight strokes of the cane.
The youngest of the nine gangsters, 16-year-old Muhamad Iskandar Is'maon, will be caned six strokes.
Jaffar, the oldest of the gang members, also faced another charge of unlawful assembly and will serve another two months for this.
Mazuan was sentenced to three months' jail after admitting he had obscene video CDs in his possession. But he will serve this concurrently with his other sentence.
Yesterday, District Judge Tan Puay Boon told the nine gangsters he had to impose a heavy sentence to deter such 'mindless' fights.
He said of the late Mr Rasid: 'This person was somebody's son, he may be somebody's husband and father. He was there lying on a stainless steel table, being cut up and somebody holding his body parts.'
He told them Rasid was dead because of something their group had done.
Copyright © 2000 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
Corpun file 7300 at www.corpun.com
The Straits Times, Singapore, 19 June 2001
Road bully gets jail and cane
A sub-contractor gets nine months' jail and three strokes of the cane for breaking the cheekbone of a cabby
By Elena Chong
A ROAD bully who broke the left cheekbone of a taxi driver during a dispute four years ago was sentenced to nine months' jail.
Paying a heavy price for losing his self-control, Lim (left) still faces a civil claim against him filed by Mr Tan (right).
He was also ordered to be given three strokes of the cane yesterday. Caning is usually ordered in road-bully cases where the victim is badly hurt.
Lim Chwee Seng, 41, an air-conditioning sub-contractor, was found guilty after a trial last month of causing grievous hurt to Mr Tan Sing Guan, 40, at the junction of Jalan Eunos and Eunos Crescent at 12.55 pm on April 16, 1997.
In passing sentence, District Judge Jasvender Kaur said Lim persisted in challenging Mr Tan to alight, even after the cabby had driven some distance.
The court had heard that Lim abused Mr Tan and showed him a rude sign when Lim failed to overtake the cabby along Koon Seng Road that day.
After he managed to do so, Lim stopped in front of the taxi, got out of his van and walked over to the cab.
He then used his middle finger to push Mr Tan's right cheek and challenged him to alight from his cab. At this point, one of Lim's passengers pulled him away and Mr Tan drove on.
While the taxi driver was waiting for the lights to change at the junction of Jalan Eunos and Eunos Crescent, Lim caught up with his vehicle and again hurled vulgarities and challenged him to get down.
When Mr Tan got out of his cab to reason with Lim, the sub-contractor punched him on the left cheek. Lim, again, had to be restrained.
Mr Tan reported the matter to the police. He also sought treatment in hospital, where he was later found to have a broken cheekbone. He underwent an operation and was warded for three days.
In his submission for an appropriate sentence, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ivan Chua Boon Chwee said Lim was a road bully, whose unreasonable conduct led to the hurt caused.
The sub-contractor's callous attitude, he added, was further exemplified by the fact that he had stopped his van in the middle of a road, without consideration for other road users.
In mitigation, defence counsel Kertar Singh said that Lim, married with three children, was provoked by the vulgarities and disparaging remarks uttered by the victim.
That day, he had just completed the first of three jobs, and was on his way to Tampines when he and the cabby had the dispute.
Lim, he said, was both hungry and angry. He had since realised that he had acted very foolishly and was remorseful for having lost his self-control.
Meanwhile, Mr Tan has filed a civil claim against Lim, who could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined for causing grievous hurt.
Copyright © 2001 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
Corpun file 7305 at www.corpun.com
The New Paper, Singapore, 23 June 2001
A drink, a fight and a bloody end
By Irene Kew
THE KILLER: Satthiyan AnbarasanThis is such a terrible thing for everyone, my family, my brother's family. Every time I visit Satthiyan in prison, he tells me he is mentally tortured. He always asks me if I have visited Gunalan's grave and to put flowers on it.
-- Satthiyan's mother, Madam Suseelah
IT was a regular night out that turned tragic.
Around midnight on Feb 5 last year, Mr Gunalan Sathasivam met Satthiyan Anbarasan and a friend for drinks at a pub on Serangoon Road.
Someone bumped into him accidentally while dancing and an annoyed Mr Gunalan started shouting vulgarities.
Moments later, he turned his anger on his cousin Satthiyan for not siding with him on the dance floor.
Satthiyan had asked him to return to the table.
Outside the pub, he threw a punch at Satthiyan and a fight ensued.
When they stopped, Mr Gunalan returned to the pub while Satthiyan headed for his father's flat in Toa Payoh.
Even after supper, at 2am, an angry Mr Gunalan continued to page Satthiyan.
He left vulgar messages, challenging his cousin to a fight at the ground floor of Block 79, Lorong Limau.
At the void deck, the two men fought.
In the scuffle, Satthiyan stabbed him with the kitchen knife tucked to his waist and ran away.
Mr Gunalan was found sprawled in the carpark with stab wounds in his chest and abdomen.
Satthiyan was arrested in a police ambush on Sept 4 last year.
Yesterday, dressed in a white T-shirt and track pants, he looked calm as the charges were read out in High Court.
In mitigation, his lawyer, Mr Thangavelu, said that he is "very depressed and sad that he has been responsible for the death of his own cousin".
He is also "deeply remorseful" and has sought the forgiveness of his uncle and aunt.
Satthiyan was sentenced to eight years' jail and eight strokes of the cane for culpable homicide.
He also faced the charge of endangering the life of others by throwing a trophy from the ninth floor as well as two charges of being absent without official leave.
Satthiyan was sentenced to a year's jail for these charges.
That made his sentence a total of nine years' jail and eight strokes of the cane.
PENALTY: The penalty for culpable homicide, not amounting to murder, is life imprisonment or 10 years' jail with fine or caning.
Corpun file 7348 at www.corpun.com
The New Paper, Singapore, 29 June 2001
They attacked victim and his elderly parents... and got away with $4
By Arul John
They were stupid to hit me for such a small amount. But, what really angered me was that they hurt my parents.
- Security officer Elango Rasikannu, 24THREE PLEAD GUILTY
ANATHA RAJ: Jail and caning. ANATHA Raj was sentenced to 18 months' jail and three strokes of the cane.
He pleaded guilty to using criminal force to commit theft.
He could have been jailed up to seven years.
Salshima and Elanchezian pleaded guilty to robbery. Their case will be mentioned again next month. Bhavani was discharged with a warning.
Elanchezian was previously jailed for five years for drug trafficking.
Salshima was jailed for four months in 1991 for hurting a public servant.
She was also jailed four times previously for theft.
Their lawyers told the court Mr Elango had promised them jobs but cheated them. They were drunk at the time.
Mr Elango said he had turned them away because of their record.
Anatha Raj took the sentence calmly.
The two lovers, Elanchezian and Salshima, frowned as their lawyer explained the penalty they faced.
For robbery, they can be jailed two to 10 years.
THEY punched and kicked him for about an hour and didn't spare his 70-year-old father and 55-year-old mother either.
The drunken gang of four hit the elderly couple too after telephoning them to come and get their son. Such a heartless attack against a frail old man, with kidney problems, and an elderly woman.
Give us money or we won't let him go, they threatened his parents.
But all they got was $4 -- completely missing the $800 in his wallet.
Not that security officer Elango Rasikannu, 24, feels lucky.
Not after the beating outside the deserted theatre in the dead of night.
He is still afraid.
He froze when he saw Anatha Raj Ponnampalam, 23, in the dock yesterday.
"My hands still shake when I see him. I remember how he tortured me," he told The New Paper.
He recalled that morning on Dec 26 last year. He was returning to his Geylang Bahru flat just after midnight when Anatha Raj and three others attacked him.
They were Elanchezian Raja Gopal, 34, Salshima Jeyaraman, 42 and Bhavani Krishnan Kannan.
All four were drunk.
"They lived nearby and we knew one another casually. Suddenly, Anatha Raj and Elanchezian grabbed my shirt collar and tore my tie," he said.
They took him to a nearby theatre.
Mr Elango said Anatha Raj previously wanted to work with his uncle, but he had turned him down.
"He wanted compensation for not giving him a job. Elanchezian then reached into my trouser back pocket and took $4."
Near the theatre walkway, Elanchezian, Salshima and Anatha Raj assaulted him.
Salshima, who is a transsexual, threw Mr Elango's handphone on the road.
"Anatha Raj telephoned my parents and told them where I was. Salshima then went to my flat and told them I couldn't go home until they got the money," Mr Elango said.
"Even though I had the $800 on me, I didn't give it to them because my father told me never to give money to crooks. Even if I had given them the money, he would have insisted I go to the police."
Said his father, Mr Rasikannu Ramasamy, a butcher at the Geylang Bahru market: "Just after midnight, we received a call from someone who said they had Elango and they wanted money. If they didn't get it, they wouldn't release him."
He then went to the theatre with his wife, Madam Valliammai Muthiah. The couple did not take any money with them.
When Mr Elango called out to them, Elanchezian angrily hit him again.
Mr Rasikannu said: "One of them hit my wife in the stomach when she went to help Elango. Then he pushed me to the ground."
Mr Elango said: "Dad has kidney failure and undergoes dialysis three times a week. The push hurt him as he's quite weak."
He pushed his attackers away and ran to the Kolam Ayer Neighbourhood Police Post.
"The police went to the scene but the group had scattered," he said.
Mr Elango was treated at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital on Dec 27 for bruises on his left eye, left chest and right cheek.
His parents didn't seek treatment.
He said: "Dad is all right, but Mum sometimes has to visit the doctor for stomach pains. They were stupid to hit me for such a small amount. But what really angered me was that they hurt my parents."
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