Man admits throwing bottle that fatally struck elderly man

An Australian man admitted in a Singapore district court yesterday that he was "a bit drunk" and had yelled vulgarities about Muslims after he flung a wine bottle from the seventh storey of a condominium in Spottiswoode Park Road in 2019.

It fell towards a group of Malay-Muslims at a barbecue area on the fifth storey and struck delivery driver Nasiari Sunee's head, fracturing his skull.

The 73-year-old grandfather of nine died on Aug 19 that year.

The bottle ricocheted off the elderly man's head and hit the right shoulder of his wife, Madam Manisah Sitri. As a result, the 69-year-old housewife's arm had to be placed in a sling for about two months.

The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) said in a statement yesterday that Andrew Gosling's offences were religiously aggravated as he demonstrated hostility towards Muslims.

The AGC added: "He ran from the scene after throwing the bottle to evade detection, shouting crude, religiously charged vulgarities about Muslims. Gosling's actions were outrageous, senseless and appalling."

The 49-year-old has pleaded guilty to committing a rash act that led to Mr Nasiari's death. The unemployed man also admitted to causing grievous hurt to Madam Manisah by performing the act.

Deputy public prosecutors G. Kannan, Thiagesh Sukumaran and Ben Mathias Tan stated in court documents: "The accused committed the act as he was angry and upset at the terrorist attacks committed by Islamic fundamentalist groups in Bali and Melbourne that had killed Australian citizens."

But a psychiatric report had said Gosling's anti-Muslim thoughts at the time of the offences were "obsessive negative thoughts" he was prone to when intoxicated and "did not represent (his) true feelings or intentions".

The court heard that Gosling entered Singapore on July 15, 2019, to look for a job here and rented a unit on the seventh storey of the Spottiswoode 18 condominium the following month.

After consuming alcohol on Aug 18, 2019, he peered from his balcony and saw a group of Malay-Muslims having a gathering at a barbecue area two storeys below. Mr Nasiari and his wife were part of it.

At around 8.30pm, Gosling left his home to throw some rubbish at a common chute at a lift lobby.

While he was there, he found an empty wine bottle, which weighed about 600g, and flung it towards the group to "startle" them.

After that, he ran back to his apartment while yelling religiously charged vulgarities about Muslims.

Police later interviewed all residents at the condominium.

On Aug 20, 2019, two officers interviewed Gosling and showed him the bottle.

He lied, claiming he had never seen it before.

Three days later, Gosling was told to present himself at the Central Police Division to provide a statement.

He realised the bottle could be traced to him after he provided his DNA and fingerprints to the authorities. He finally surrendered to the police on Aug 28, 2019.

Yesterday, the prosecutors urged Principal District Judge Victor Yeo to sentence Gosling to seven years' jail.

They said: "This was no random act of 'killer litter'. The accused had noticed the gathering and recognised those at the gathering as Muslims. He cowardly fled the scene after throwing the bottle to evade detection, shouting crude, religiously charged vulgarities about Muslims."

Gosling is represented by Senior Counsel N. Sreenivasan, Mr S. Balamurugan, Ms Gloria James and Mr Kevin Liew. They asked for him to be given two to three years' jail.

The court also heard that Gosling had voluntarily offered $20,000 in compensation to Mr Nasiari's family and they have accepted it.

Gosling is expected to be sentenced in April.