SINGAPORE: A man pleaded guilty on Friday (Jun 14) to his involvement in a group attack against a 27-year-old man in Serangoon Road last year that left the victim with multiple injuries including lacerations and a partially amputated foot.
Sharvin Raj Suraj, 18, pleaded guilty to rioting while armed with a deadly weapon, being armed with an offensive weapon and being a member of an unlawful society.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAn additional three charges, including rioting with others to hurt three victims, will be taken into consideration for sentencing.
Sharvin, who has been remanded since January, was part of a group of five men who set upon the victim in Serangoon Road on Jul 25 last year in an attack that Home Affairs minister K Shanmugam called "horrific".
One of Sharvin's group members, co-accused Arjun Retnavelu, had been on the watch for the victim, as Arjun had had previous disputes with him and wanted to take revenge.
All five men were in a car along Serangoon Road that afternoon when Arjun spotted the victim at a bus stop. The other members of the group also wanted to attack the victim, having previously had disputes with the 27-year-old.
AdvertisementAdvertisementArjun alerted the group to his sighting and the driver stopped the car along the side of the road. Arjun then retrieved a box of weapons containing a samurai sword, a baton and a chopper from the boot.
MEN ARMED THEMSELVES WITH DIFFERENT WEAPONS
Arjun picked up the chopper, while Sharvin wielded the baton and the driver armed himself with the samurai sword. The remaining two men did not carry weapons.
They approached the victim and set on him, slashing, hitting, punching and kicking him. In the fray, Sharvin hit the victim with his baton, which Arjun later took from him after having dropped his own weapon.
The group then fled to a friend's home in Yishun, where they abandoned the samurai sword and baton.
Knowing that the police would be looking for them, the group went to the home of Arjun's cousin in Sin Ming Industrial estate in different taxis, discarding their clothes in a rubbish chute there.
They were arrested a day after the attack.
The victim was taken to hospital with a partial amputation of his right foot as well as lacerations on his arm, back and head.
He underwent several operations and was hospitalised for a week and given three months of hospitalisation leave.
Sharvin also admitted to having a 19cm-long knife in his pocket while at a coffee shop with his friends a month before the Serangoon Road incident.
SHARVIN ATTEMPTED ANOTHER FIGHT WHILE ON BAIL
While on bail, Sharvin committed a similar offence against another victim, again with Arjun involved.
Sharvin was with Arjun and four other men at a pub in Dalhousie Lane on Jan 2 this year when Arjun saw a 25-year-old man he had had a misunderstanding with.
He asked the victim to step out of the Nilaa Music Lounge pub and fight with him to settle the matter, but the victim refused and ran away.
After the pub closed, the group left, but they spotted the victim alighting from a taxi in Ang Mo Kio.
Members of the group alighted and chased after the victim, but they could not catch him in order for Arjun to fight him one on one.
Police officers arrived at the scene and checked on the group, along with the car. They found a foldable knife and a knuckle-duster in the vehicle.
District Judge May Mesenas called for reports to assess Sharvin's suitability for probation and reformative training.
He is set to be sentenced on Jul 5.
He is the first of the men in the slashing incident to plead guilty. The cases for the other four are pending.
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