Singapore was rocked by news of a slashing that took place in Serangoon Road on Wednesday (25 Jul). The victim of that incident remains in Tan Tock Seng Hospital with serious injuries.
The police have arrested 7 men in connection with the case. Notably, the culprits used a samurai sword to attack their victim. They later disposed of this at Lower Peirce Reservoir, according to media reports.
Samurai swords and slashings might sound unusual in squeaky clean Singapore, but they’re really not. Here are 6 other violent crimes that shocked the nation:
In 2013, full-time National Serviceman (NSF) Wilson Siau was brutally attacked outside Orchard Cineleisure. One eyewitness described the attackers as wielding a “long silverish thing – either a long parang, or a metal bar”.
Another commented that the slash wounds were deep, leading Mr Siau to bleed profusely. The police eventually arrested 9 people in connection to the slashing.
A bitter rivalry between Zam Zam Murtabak and Victory Restaurant in North Bridge Road, led to the slashing of Victory’s supervisor, Liakath Ali Mohamed Ibrahim.
On 26 August 2015, Zam Zam’s owner, Zackeer Abbass Khan hired a secret society headman to slash Liakath at the junction between Rochor Canal Road and Sungei Road.
Although Liakath’s baseball hat partially deflected the attack, the knife left deep scars to his nose and upper lips.
Zam Zam’s restaurant supervisor was arrested and sentenced to 6.5 years of jail and 6 strokes of the cane in relation to the slashing.
Audrey Chen, the winner of the 2016 Mermaid pageant, was seeing seeing two men — Joshua Koh, 32 and Lim Hong Liang, 54 — when this incident happened. A after discovering that his girlfriend was two-timing, Lim reportedly hired a ‘hitman’ to slash Joshua.
Joshua was slashed with a penknife repeatedly near little India on April 30, 2016. The attack caused permanent damage to his face.
Police arrested 5 people in relation to the incident. They were sentenced to 14.5 years in jail and were caned as well.
On March 10, 2015, 17-year-old Muhammad Zuhairie attacked Ahmad Nurthaqif with a large bread knife at an ITE campus, as more than 50 people watched in disbelief.
The animosity between the two students started when Nurthaqif allegedly called Zuhairie’s girlfriend “baby” during a meeting at Clarke Quay.
Zuhairie was sentenced to 18 months in jail and 6 strokes of the cane.
On the evening of February 24, 2016, a coffee shop assistant fatally slashed a patron after a heated altercation – which started over the shop’s self-service policy on drinks. It then escalated into a typical “staring” match.
Ang Kim Keat, the customer, was eventually followed and brutally slashed to death with a meat cleaver.
Khor Tzoong Meng, the stall assistant, was sentenced to 8 years in jail after pleading guilty to a charge of culpable homicide
In the wee hours of May 29 2010, a gang of 4 went on a 7 -hour slashing spree. Clustered within a 2 km wide zone, the slashings left 1 Indian national dead, 1 NSF with 4 fingers hacked off and 3 others in intensive care.
Investigations revealed that the 4 men were from Sarawak and that the “vicious, savage” attacks were partially robberies. 3 victims had their mobile phones and wallets robbed violently seized.
In 2017, the Court of Appeal handed Micheal Garing the death penalty, while his accomplices were given a life sentence and a 33-year jail sentence respectively. The last member of the gang was captured in Malaysia last year after 6 years on the run. He is still awaiting trial.
On 30 October 2010, 19-year-old Darren Ng Wei Jie got into a ‘staring incident’ with members of a gang at Downtown East.
He was then repeatedly hacked with choppers by a group of 12 teenagers, leaving a 500m long trail of blood around the resort. Mr Ng was later pronounced dead at Changi General Hospital.
12 people were charged in relation to the slashing – with several sentenced to 12-years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane.
In the hearings, Justice Tay Yong Kwang implored “young persons in secret societies and street gangs to open their eyes to the tragic truth that violence begets violence”.
We couldn’t have said it better.
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