Repeat offender gets jail and cane after string of assaults

A recalcitrant offender is back behind bars after he assaulted many people in separate incidents, fracturing the skull of one victim and attacking another with a parang.

Indran Devadas, 40, who committed some of his offences while he was out on bail, was yesterday sentenced to jail for two years, 10 months and six weeks, with six strokes of the cane.

He had pleaded guilty to five charges over offences including assault, voluntarily causing grievous hurt with a weapon and using criminal force on a police officer.

The court heard that he had been in and out of jail for earlier offences, including assault.

He returned to his old ways on April 3, 2020, when he targeted his live-in fiancee at the time. He had come home drunk at around 2.15am and got into an argument with the 50-year-old woman.

He then flung a perfume bottle at her, which struck her left temple and caused swelling.

On Nov 20 that year, Indran confronted her after he heard rumours that a 35-year-old man had slept with her. He then went to the man's flat and repeatedly punched his face before leaving.

Indran was arrested and then released on bail.

Meanwhile, the man went to a hospital, where he was found to have injuries including a fractured skull.

Indran was out on bail on Jan 5 last year when he got into another tiff with his then fiancee and assaulted her.

They quarrelled again on May 23 last year, and she later changed the padlock to her rental flat.

Two days later, she called the police, saying that Indran had broken into her home when she was at work. The court heard that she had found out about what he had done after a call from a friend.

Officers arrived at the scene, and Indran admitted he had used a tool to cut the padlock to enter the flat. They arrested him and, when he was in a police vehicle, he kicked an officer's left arm.

Court documents did not disclose what happened next, but his then fiancee was at a restaurant in Yishun last October when she spotted a man who used to be in the same secret society as Indran.

According to her, she confronted the 54-year-old man as she heard that he had spread rumours about Indran's medical condition.

The woman later called Indran, who turned up at the eatery armed with a parang. A scuffle broke out between the two men and a weapon came into contact with the older man's right eye and eyelid.

Indran fled but was arrested later that evening.