Teen gets reformative training for part in samurai sword attack that left victim with partly amputated foot

Arjun Retnavelu (left), Sharvin Raj Suraj (right, with head bowed) and Dinesh Kumar Ruvy were among five suspects charged in July 2018. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - A teenager who ganged up with four men in Little India last year to attack a 27-year-old so viciously that part of the victim's right foot was cut off was ordered on Friday (July 5) to undergo reformative training for at least a year.

This means 18-year-old Sharvin Raj Suraj will be detained in a reformative training centre where he will have follow a strict regimen that includes foot drills and counselling.

The attack on Mr Dhines Selvarajah happened at 2.15pm on July 25 last year. By the time it ended, part of his right foot was amputated.

A district court heard that he cannot walk properly now.

Photos taken by onlookers of the injured man were later posted on social media.

Sharvin had pleaded guilty on June 14 to one count each of rioting with a deadly weapon, being part of an unlawful assembly and having a knife in his possession.

He was the first member of the group to be dealt with in court.

The cases against the other four in the group - Haresh Shanmuganathan, 23; Arjun Retnavelu, 24; Victor Alexander Arumugam, 25; and Dinesh Kumar Ruvy, 28 - are pending.

Mr Dhines was sitting at a bus stop in Serangoon Road when he was spotted by the five Singaporeans who were in a car.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Pavithra Ramkumar said that the men had "previous disputes" with Mr Dhines and wanted to confront him. Court documents did not disclose details of the disputes.

Dinesh, the driver, stopped the car by the side of the road. After the five men got out of the car, three of them retrieved some weapons from a box that Arjun had placed in the boot.

The DPP said that Arjun picked a chopper, Dinesh chose a samurai sword and Sharvin took a baton.

She added: "Haresh confirmed the identity of the victim and signalled to the accused and co-accused persons to attack.

"Arjun ran forward to the victim and started to slash him with the chopper. Dinesh then unsheathed the samurai sword and started slashing the victim with it.

"The accused then hit the victim with the baton and Haresh joined in by throwing punches and kicks at the victim."

The group left in the car after the attack. An ambulance took Mr Dhines, who is also a Singaporean, to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where he was found to have a partial amputation of his right foot and a wound at the back of his head.

He was warded for a week and given three months of hospitalisation leave.

The Straits Times had earlier reported that police nabbed the five within 16 hours of the attack.

In an unrelated case, Sharvin was also caught with a knife in his possession at a Yishun coffee shop on June 3 last year.

And while out on bail in January this year, he was part of an unlawful assembly.

Offenders convicted of rioting with a deadly weapon can be jailed for up to 10 years and caned.

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