Orchard Towers murder: Bail jumper nabbed, back in court

A man allegedly linked to the Orchard Towers murder case who jumped bail last month was taken back to court yesterday.

Tan Hong Sheng, 22, who was one of seven people originally charged with the murder of Mr Satheesh Noel Gobidass, was arrested on Thursday.

Yesterday, Tan was also served with an unrelated rioting charge.

While out on bail on Aug 9, he was allegedly part of an unlawful assembly with four others who came together to cause hurt to Desmond Neo Zhao Fu, 30.

The group was allegedly part of a huge brawl caught on a video which was later uploaded online.

Tan is accused of committing this offence outside Club Secret at Central Mall in Magazine Road.

Neo is also facing a similar rioting charge and will be back in court on Oct 8.

The other six arrested in the Orchard Towers case are: Natalie Siow Yu Zhen, 23; Loo Boon Chong, 25; Tan Sen Yang, 28; as well as Joel Tan Yun Sheng, Chan Jia Xing and Ang Da Yuan, all 26. Their cases are pending.

In the murder case, Tan Hong Sheng as well as Loo and Chan were allegedly in the company of Tan Sen Yang, who was said to have had a foldable "kerambit" knife in his possession at the Naughty Girl Club at 5.46am on July 2. The weapon is a curved knife resembling a claw.

On July 11, Tan Hong Sheng, Loo and Chan had their murder charges reclassified to that of consorting with a person carrying an offensive weapon in a public place. The trio were then released on bail.

Loo and Chan turned up in court on Aug 29, but Tan Hong Sheng was nowhere to be found. A warrant of arrest was then issued against him.

His case has been adjourned to Oct 4 and he is remanded at the Central Police Division. Loo and Chan will be back in court on Oct 10.