A man punched a property developer in the face for no obvious reason, causing a fracture around his left eye socket, a district court heard.

The same man, Lokess Sittrasu, 23, also joined his friends N. Karthigeya, 24, and Jayaganesh Umoocomar, 39, in kicking and punching Mr Mohideen Noh Firdaus, 36, outside Moonshine at Orchard Towers in Orchard Road on May 7, 2016. The three had been drinking at the pub earlier.

Karthigeya, then an operations manager, has been dealt with. Safety coordinator Jayaganesh's case is pending.

Lokess, who also faced separate charges for offences including drink driving and lying to the police, was yesterday sentenced to 17 months and one week in jail, fined $1,000 and banned from driving for two years after he admitted to five charges.

His encounter with Mr Mohideen involved arguing with him, appearing to make peace before eventually attacking him.

The court heard that Mr Mohideen and his girlfriend were leaving the pub at 8.35am on May 7, 2016, when Lokess, who appeared drunk, uttered vulgarities at the couple.

They argued before Mr Mohideen extended his hand to Lokess and the two men embraced each other. Lokess then returned to the pub.

Later, Mr Mohideen and his girlfriend were standing at the door when an unknown hostess lost her balance, fell and was helped up.

Lokess, who was with Jayaganesh, asked Mr Mohideen what happened.

After Mr Mohideen told him about the accident, Lokess threw a punch at him. Mr Mohideen could not see from his left eye as a result.

Karthigeya and Jayaganesh tried to attack Mr Mohideen while the pub staff tried to block them. Eventually, Jayaganesh managed to squeeze through and punched Mr Mohideen on his head.

After they were separated, Mr Mohideen shouted to Lokess that the police were coming "so you can leave now".

Hearing this, the three men attacked Mr Mohideen again and left at around 8.50am, before the police arrived.

The attack left Mr Mohideen with a nasal bone fracture which has healed. But he still has double vision in his left eye.

Lokess was separately involved in a drink-driving case on July 17 that year in Pasir Ris Street 21.

He was found to have at least 69 micrograms of alcohol in every 100ml of breath - about twice the legal limit. He also drove his car into a lamp post near Block 216.

Principal District Judge Ong Hian Sun, who took into consideration an offensive weapon charge, backdated Lokess' sentence to Aug 16 last year.