Man fled to Batam for 9 months to avoid arrest for assault at East Coast Lagoon Food Village

SINGAPORE: After assaulting a man and his son at East Coast Lagoon Food Village, a man decided to flee the country to avoid arrest, paying S$500 for someone to arrange his illegal departure.

From Tuas, he took a boat to Batam and stayed there for nine months before Indonesian authorities deported him in March this year.

Safuan Kamarodin, 39, pleaded guilty on Tuesday (Apr 12) to four charges of rioting, leaving Singapore from an unauthorised point of departure and irresponsible driving.

The Singaporean will return to court for sentencing next month.

The court heard that Safuan and eight of his friends got into a fight with a father and son at East Coast Lagoon Food Village after midnight on Apr 11 last year. The two sides did not know each other.

The fight took place after Safuan's friend Nur Faisal Shah Hishamuddin Shah, known as Bhai, 34, bumped into a man at the entrance of the hawker centre's male toilet.

Bhai confronted the 51-year-old man for bumping into him, and the exchange quickly escalated into a dispute with Bhai's friends backing him up.

Safuan made the first move by getting into a tussle with the other man. When the victim fell onto the ground, the group punched and kicked him repeatedly for about 20 seconds until he managed to get up and run away.

Later, as the victim, his 20-year-old son and the rest of his family were on their way out of the hawker centre, they saw the group loitering near where the earlier assault took place. The victim's son questioned the group about the attack.

The confrontation grew heated until the group started punching and kicking the son. He ran away but they chased him through the hawker centre, at one point throwing a coconut at him. Safuan tried to throw a beer bottle at the son but missed.

The group also chased the father through the hawker centre, and Safuan kicked him after he fell on the ground. The victims did not retaliate and only tried to defend themselves from the blows, said the prosecution.

Police arrived after receiving several calls from members of the public. The victims were taken to the hospital and found to have abrasions on various parts of their bodies.

Bhai is still on the run, according to the prosecution.

About two months after the attack, Safuan decided to flee Singapore to evade detection and arrest.

He was wanted for police investigations and had a warrant to arrest issued against him at the time, after failing to attend a hearing for earlier driving offences.

He was deported back from Batam on Mar 29 this year.

Safuan also admitted to drink-driving and careless driving after midnight on Oct 30, 2020. He had drunk a few glasses of whiskey earlier that night.

While driving at the junction of Fullerton Road and Esplanade Drive, he fell asleep at the wheel and lost control of the rented van he was driving. The van crashed into guardrails and overturned.

A police officer at the scene found Safuan reeking strongly of alcohol, and the man also failed a breathalyser test.

Safuan and his passenger suffered minor abrasions. The damage to the guardrails was valued at S$13,800, and was paid for by the vehicle rental company.

The prosecution is seeking between 22 months and six weeks' jail and 25 months and 10 weeks' jail, as well as a S$7,000 fine and four-year ban from driving.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Melina Chew called the attack at the hawker centre a "senseless assault" that was unprovoked and unwarranted.

She also noted that Safuan made the group's first move on the other man, and that the nine assailants outnumbered their two victims.

She also highlighted Safuan's previous convictions for being a member of an unlawful society and rioting to ask for a longer jail sentence.

The penalty for rioting is up to seven years' jail and caning. Illegal departure from Singapore can be punished with up to six months' jail, a fine of up to S$2,000 or both.