SINGAPORE - A barista stabbed a 16-year-old student in his stomach after the teenager tried to stop him from attacking his friend further.
Ellson Ang Jun Xiang, 22, admitted to punching a 14-year-old student in the cheek before turning on the 16-year-old with a foldable knife from a multi-purpose tool kit. He also admitted to having the kit, without proper authority, at the void deck of a block at 5.10pm on July 25.
District Judge Luke Tan sentenced Ang to 10 months' jail and six strokes of the cane on Monday (Nov 13), saying this was really a case of "senseless violence''.
Investigation showed that at about 5pm that day, the two teenagers were at the void deck of Block 827, Woodlands Street 81 with their friends when Ang arrived at a basketball court in front of the void deck on an electric scooter to meet his girlfriend.
The group talked about Ang's scooter, but he felt agitated when he saw them looking in his direction.
Carrying the tool kit with the foldable knife, Ang asked the boys what they were staring at.
The younger victim, a Secondary 3 student, told him that they were looking at his electric scooter.
Ang responded by punching the boy in the face.
Seeing this, the boy's 16-year-old friend gave Ang a push in the chest. Ang stabbed him in the stomach with a 5cm-long foldable knife and walked away.
The younger victim called the police, who arrested Ang outside a church in Woodlands Street 82.
They recovered a blood-stained knife from his bag.
Pleading for leniency, Ang's lawyer Choo Si Sen said his client had spent 16 days in remand, including two weeks at the Institute of Mental Health. He said Ang had shown remorse, and undertaken to pay $1,644 to the victim for his injuries.
Ang could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, caned or received any combined punishment for causing hurt with a dangerous weapon.
For causing hurt, the maximum penalty is two years' jail and a $5,000 fine; and for possession of an offensive weapon, three years' jail and not less than six strokes of the cane.
