SINGAPORE – Before heading to a bar for drinks in Cuscaden Road, a man told his friend to bring a weapon as fights occasionally broke out at the watering hole. By the end of that night in June 2022, the same man had planted a harpoon into a stranger’s back after an argument broke out between them.
On March 15, Sheran Raj Balasubramaniam, 24, was sentenced to three years and seven months’ jail, and ordered to receive 10 strokes of the cane.
He had pleaded guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon, and another charge over a separate incident where he carried an offensive weapon in a public place.
During sentencing, District Judge Paul Chan noted that this was not Sheran Raj’s first brush with the law, pointing out previous violent offences and a stint in the Reformative Training Centre. He did not elaborate on his previous offences.
“He has had a warning about not committing such offences before, but he has not heeded those warnings,” Judge Chan said.
In mitigation, defence lawyer Ashvin Hariharan of IRB Law said Sheran Raj was only 22 years old when the incident took place.
But the judge said while youth can be a mitigating factor as young people often commit offences out of folly or lack of life experiences, this cannot be applied to Sheran Raj as he is a repeat offender.
Judge Chan went on to say that a stronger deterrence is needed as Sheran Raj seems to have “no qualms” about committing violent crimes. “He must now face the full measure of the law as an adult,” the judge added.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Melissa Heng said on June 3, 2022, Sheran Raj had asked his friend S. Mageshwaran to go with him to Candy Bar at Ming Arcade shopping centre in Cuscaden Road. Before entering the bar, Mageshwaran, 29, passed a harpoon with a 6cm-long blade to him.
In June 2023, Mageshwaran was sentenced to 17 months, 19 weeks and three days’ jail, and ordered to be given 12 strokes of the cane.
He had pleaded guilty to several offences, including harassment and being in possession of the harpoon.
DPP Heng said the pair reached Candy Bar at 12.30am on June 4, 2022, and began ordering “copious amounts of alcohol”. They finished two bottles of Chivas Regal whisky that day. Around 4.20am, Sheran Raj noticed a man arguing with a woman inside the bar and decided to intervene between the pair who turned out to be siblings.
After Sheran Raj slapped the man on his head, the man challenged Sheran Raj to a fight. Both men then left the bar.
Outside Candy Bar, the man’s friends tried to separate them. Sheran Raj took out the harpoon from his pocket and lunged twice at the man with it. He missed both times.
In the ensuing chaos, Sheran Raj managed to stab the man in his lower back. He realised the knife was stuck in the man’s back when he tried to retrieve it.
He quickly booked a taxi and left the area, while the man was later taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital with the harpoon still in his back.
He was discharged on June 6, 2022, and re-admitted three days later after complaining of pain and numbness. Sheran Raj was later identified and arrested. He was released on bail on June 13, 2022.
On Oct 20, 2023, while he was out on bail, an intoxicated Sheran Raj got into a heated argument with his mother for not giving him pocket money, and left home with a kitchen chopper.
Fearing what he would do, his younger sister made a police report.
On his way home the next day, he spotted a police car and quickly tossed the chopper into a dustbin after alighting from his Grab ride. He was eventually caught and arrested.
