A 51-year-old man was charged in court on Tuesday (27 May) with voluntarily causing grievous hurt, after allegedly biting a 75-year-old retiree and tearing off a piece of flesh from his right palm during a confrontation at Pandan Reservoir.
Source: Wikiloc, for illustration purposes only
The accused, Yatham Naga Venkata Sateesh, an Indian national and Singapore permanent resident, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The trial opened this week, with the alleged victim, Lin Yachun (name transliterated from Chinese), testifying as the prosecution’s first witness.
According to Shin Min Daily News, Mr Lin was walking his dog near the reservoir at around 8am on 18 April 2023 when he witnessed a scene that prompted him to step in.
He testified that he saw a woman running near the water, waving and shouting “Help my child!” while pointing toward a lorry parked nearby.
As Mr Lin approached the vehicle, he saw Sateesh seated inside, holding a crying toddler in his left arm.
Outside the lorry stood another man, whom Mr Lin described as looking like a foreign worker, seemingly trying to pull someone from the vehicle.
Believing a kidnapping was unfolding, Mr Lin attempted to intervene by telling Sateesh to calm down.
Though he could not fully understand what was being said, Mr Lin recalled hearing the word “prostitute” during the exchange.
Mr Lin then reached out to gesture for Sateesh to come out of the lorry.
At that moment, Sateesh allegedly pulled Mr Lin’s right hand toward his mouth and bit down hard, tearing off a portion of flesh.
“He bit me like a zombie,” Mr Lin told the court, adding that the pain was overwhelming and beyond description.
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The woman who had cried for help reportedly gave Mr Lin tissues to stop the bleeding, and emergency services were called to the scene.
Photographs later taken by police reportedly showed the torn piece of Mr Lin’s palm inside the lorry.
The court also heard that Sateesh’s estranged wife and her boyfriend were present during the incident.
Sateesh and his wife had been separated since October 2022 and share a three-year-old daughter, believed to be the child involved.
However, the defence disputed Mr Lin’s version of events, arguing that he had struck Sateesh on the back of the neck and covered his face with a hand, prompting a defensive reaction.
The lawyer further argued that as Sateesh was holding his daughter and engaged in a struggle with the man outside the lorry, he would not have been able to grab Mr Lin’s hand as described.
During cross-examination, Mr Lin acknowledged that events unfolded rapidly and said his palm may have accidentally covered Sateesh’s mouth, but denied being the aggressor.
Due to the severity of the injury, Mr Lin underwent two surgeries, including a full-thickness skin graft.
Medical reports revealed a 5.5cm by 4cm wound on his right palm, with skin and underlying tissue loss, along with arterial damage.
While his tendons were exposed, they were not severed.
Even after the operations, Mr Lin told the court that his hand no longer feels “natural” and that he now struggles to open his palm, grip objects, or apply pressure as he could before.
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Featured image adapted from jakesavideo on YouTube, for illustration purposes only.