Orchard Road fatal brawl: Victim was stabbed to death with knife that friend passed him

SINGAPORE – Seeing a group of rival secret society members near a club they were at, Muhammad Shahrulnizam Osman armed his friend Mohammad Isrrat Mohd Ismail with a small knife in case there was trouble.

But when a fight broke out, the knife was used by one of their rivals to stab Mr Isrrat to death.

The

fatal brawl happened at around 6am on Aug 20, 2023

, outside the Concorde Hotel and Shopping Mall along Orchard Road.

On Nov 22, Shahrulnizam, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon, and one charge of abetting Mr Isrrat to possess an offensive weapon.

Two other charges will be taken into consideration for his sentencing, which will take place on Dec 4.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Brian Tan asked for 35 to 39 months’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane for Shahrulnizam.

The prosecutor noted that the offender had been sentenced to reformative training twice previously for rioting offences.

On the offence of passing Mr Isrrat a knife, DPP Tan wrote in his submissions: “A life was lost by virtue of the weapon that the deceased had received from (Shahrulnizam) and a significant uplift (in sentence) is warranted.”

The court heard that Shahrulnizam and Mr Isrrat, 29, were from a secret society and knew each other from their time in prison.

At about 4.30am on the day of the incident, Shahrulnizam and his girlfriend met Mr Isrrat for drinks at Club Rumours in Concorde Hotel. Shahrulnizam had previously worked as a bouncer at the club.

At 4.46am, a group of rival secret society members arrived at the club. They were denied entry as they were permanently banned for injuring Club Rumours’ owner in a 2019 fight.

Shahrulnizam saw the group and noticed the club’s bouncers discussing how to deal with them. He asked his former colleagues to pass him a bread knife, which he received along with a small knife.

Shahrulnizam tucked the bread knife into his pants and handed the small knife to Mr Isrrat.

At about 6am, as the club was closing, Mr Isrrat suddenly started shouting abusive words at the rival group. A fight subsequently broke out.

Shahrulnizam and Mr Isrrat left the hotel while being chased by members of the rival secret society. Two of their rivals, Sharvin Jay Nair, 25, and Visnu Suriamurthi, 28, kicked and punched Mr Isrrat.

Shahrulnizam used the bread knife to slash Sharvin’s elbow and Visnu’s neck, forehead and chest. He also slashed another rival secret society member, Abdul Rahman Gani Abdul Azeez, 34, on his hand.

Mr Isrrat and Shahrulnizam then ran back to Concorde Hotel. Mr Isrrat eventually fell to the ground at an escalator outside the hotel, and the small knife that Shahrulnizam gave him fell to the ground.

One of the members of the group, Asvain Pachan Pillai Sukumaran, then allegedly took the knife and stabbed Mr Isrrat multiple times with it.

The owner of Club Rumours called for an ambulance and Mr Isrrat was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Asvain, 29, has been

charged with Mr Isrrat’s murder

. His case is still before the courts.

Shahrulnizam surrendered himself to police a day after the brawl.

The three people he had slashed sought treatment at hospitals. Sharvin underwent surgery for his elbow, while Gani suffered a fracture in his index finger and said his finger was “almost falling off”.

In mitigation, lawyer S.S. Dhillon painted Shahrulnizam’s actions as an attempt to protect himself and Mr Isrrat.

Mr Dhillon said: “It is very apparent in the entire circumstances that they were being attacked, and they were to defend themselves... this other group had murderous intent.”

The lawyer asked for a jail term of 30 months, but agreed that his client should be given 12 strokes of the cane.

DPP Tan replied that Shahrulnizam was the one who asked his former colleagues for weapons.

“(He) chose to get himself involved in any potential acts of violence that could have arisen,” the prosecutor added.

More than 10 men have been hauled to court

for their roles in the fatal brawl.

Sharvin was

sentenced to 12 months and eight weeks’ jail

and fined $2,000 after he pleaded guilty on June 25 to voluntarily causing hurt to Mr Isrrat.