One of five in Serangoon samurai sword attack pleads guilty

SINGAPORE – One of five people who were charged for a vicious slashing incident at Serangoon Road last year pleaded guilty on Friday (June 14) to using a baton to beat up their victim.

Sharvin Raj Suraj also pleaded guilty to two other charges, one for unlawful assembly and the other for the possession of an offensive instrument.

The 18-year-old is the first among the five to plead guilty for his role in the July 25, 2018 attack.

They were charged for it two days after the attack.

Sharvin will remain in remand until his sentencing on July 5.

In his mitigation plea, defence counsel Timothy Ng said his client is young and that this was Sharvin’s “first set of offences”.

Mr Ng argued it would be more appropriate to assess Sharvin’s suitability for a probation and reformative training instead of a harsher sentence such as jail time.

However, District Judge May Mesenas responded that all the “aggravating factors were there” and highlighted that Sharvin had reoffended while he was out on bail earlier this year.

VICTIM UNLIKELY TO WALK PROPERLY AGAIN

During the hearing, a minute-long clip of the attack was played in court.

The video showed a group of men descending upon the victim at a bus stop along Serangoon Road at around 2.15pm and then attacking him.  

The attackers punched and kicked the victim, and slashed him with a “samurai sword” and a chopper. They also bashed him with Sharvin’s baton.

The attack lasted less than 30 seconds, but it was enough to leave the victim with severe injuries, which included the partial amputation of his right mid-foot and lacerations on his arm, back and head.

The video also showed the attackers fleeing the scene, leaving the victim lying on the road.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Pavithra Ramkumar said that because of the “savagery of the attack”, the victim is “unlikely to be able to walk properly again”.

She noted too that Sharvin has committed other, similar offences.

BREACH OF BAIL CONDITIONS

The court heard that on Jan 2 this year, while he was out on bail for the Serangoon attack, Sharvin met with five friends at a pub along Dalhousie Lane at around 1.45am.

Among them was Arjun Retnavelu, who had wielded the chopper in the July 2018 attack.

Arjun, 24, was also charged for the attack and will be in court for a pre-trial conference on June 17.

Ms Pavithra said that in the wee hours of that morning, Arjun had a “personal misunderstanding” with another pub patron, Mr Dinesh Muthu Chandra.

This resulted in Arjun challenging Mr Dinesh, 25, to a fight, but Mr Dinesh declined, ran away and took a taxi home.

It is not clear if either of the men knew each other prior to the incident.

As Sharvin and his friends were headed home in a car after the pub closed, Arjun told them about the grudge he had developed against Mr Dinesh, and his need to settle it.

Coincidentally, the group spotted Mr Dinesh getting out from a taxi along Ang Mo Kio Ave 3, alighted from their car and gave chase.

The chase was witnessed by a 43-year-old man, who called the police.

Fortunately for Mr Dinesh, he was able to elude his pursuers as he ran through the HDB blocks.

Meanwhile, the police were waiting for the pursuers back at their car.

A search of their vehicle had uncovered a foldable knife and a knuckle duster.

The men were charged with being members of an unlawful assembly, “whose common object was to voluntarily cause hurt” to Mr Dinesh.

HE HAD A LONG BLADE IN HIS POCKET

The last charge that Sharvin pleaded guilty to occurred on the morning of June 3 last year at a coffee shop around Yishun Avenue 3.

An eyewitness had called 999 after spotting a knife in Sharvin’s pocket. The witness said Sharvin was having a dispute with someone.

The police seized from Sharvin a 19cm-long knife with an 8.5cm blade.

For rioting while armed with a deadly weapon, Sharvin could be jailed for up to 10 years and caned.