ONCE fiercely independent and a smart dresser, Abdul Hamid Jabar is today a shadow of himself.

The 69-year-old hawker is unable to walk or talk, and is totally dependent on his younger sister and a maid to look after him.

Instead of the smart long-sleeved shirts and well-ironed pants he wore as a hawker assistant, he is now always in a T-shirt and track pants.

Mr Abdul Hamid is brain damaged and half-paralysed and the man who turned his life upside down was jailed 2 1/2 years on Tuesday.

Ismail Madin, 53, a former bouncer at a pub, pleaded guilty on Aug 21 to assaulting Mr Abdul Hamid at the Bedok Interchange food market on Sept 20 last year.

The court heard that Ismail suspected Mr Abdul Hamid of squealing on his contraband cigarettes operations to the police.

The brutal attack left Mr Abdul Hamid unable to look after himself and his family is considering suing Ismail for compensation.

For the rest of his life, Mr Abdul Hamid, a bachelor, will be a financial liability.

He required hospitalisation for nearly three months and incurred medical expenses of about $10,000 because of the attack.

He needs a maid to look after him all day.

He is wheelchair-bound and until upgrading was completed to allow lifts to stop at every floor six months ago at his sister's Woodlands flat, she had to pay $10 to two cleaners to help carry him down two floors to the lift for him to go for his hospital appointments.

His sister, Madam Mariam Jaafar, 60, said that her brother, who used to live alone, has become like a child.

She even had to quit her cleaner job to help out.

Her husband Mohd Rais Jidin, 69, a security guard, now does overtime to supplement the family's income.

'Hamid is family so we have to take care of him but hopefully the court can arrange some compensation from Ismail,' he said.