A cleaner who launched a vicious and unprovoked attack on two men outside Cathay Cineleisure Orchard last December was sentenced to three years and nine months in jail and six strokes of the cane on Friday.

Lukman Nurhakim M. Thamrin, 23, had admitted to grievously hurting Mr Muhammad Safuan Mohamed Nasil, 23, by punching the salesman on his face and slamming him onto the ground outside the Grange Road complex on Dec 27. He also admitted to punching another man, Mr Muhammad Hanafi Sanif, 22, several times on his face that evening.

The court heard earlier that Lukman had called out to Mr Hanafi who was with his friends, which included Mr Safuan, at the mall. Mr Hanafi walked over to Lukman who accused him of badmouthing his friend. He also denied doing this and Lukman punched him in the face, causing him to immediately fall to the floor.

When Mr Safuan rushed forward to ask Lukman why he was behaving in such a manner, Lukman also punched him on his face, causing the victim to lose consciousness and collapse to the floor. When Mr Hanafi tried to get up, Lukman threw two more punches to his face and he blacked out. Lukman then turned to Mr Safuan, grabbed his shoulders and forcefully slammed him onto the ground even though the man was unconscious and unresponsive. Mr Safuan was critically injured and warded for 42 days with serious head injuries and a fracture at the base of the skull.

District Judge Mathew Joseph condemned Lukman for the senseless, unprovoked and brutish assault on the victims and for his thuggish conduct. He said among other things that this was an extreme case of violence and one of the worst cases of aggravated assault he has seen in court.