Third man jailed over group attack on two men at Toa Payoh void deck

SINGAPORE - A third man has been sentenced to jail after a group of nine Singaporeans hunted down and attacked a man and his friend at a void deck in Toa Payoh.

Aravinthan, 30 - who goes by one name - grabbed a penknife from 20-year-old Nathaniel Suren Kumar Siva Kumar and stabbed him twice in the thigh in a revenge attack.

Aravinthan pleaded guilty to unlawful assembly to voluntarily cause hurt, illegal possession of an extendable baton and another count of voluntarily causing hurt in a separate incident in April last year.

He was sentenced to 26 months in jail for rioting and assault plus a further six weeks for illegal possession of weapon.

The court heard that the group wanted to take revenge on Mr Suren after he allegedly attacked Darivindran Chandra Mohan, 26, in a nightclub in November 2016.

They went to look for Mr Suren at around 4am on Dec 4 that year at the St James Power Station nightclub but could not find him so they went to his home in Toa Payoh Lorong 5, where they found him drinking at a void deck with his friend Virrat Viswamoorthy, 20.

The group shouted at the pair and snatched their phones.

Darivindran challenged Mr Suren to a fight one-on-one, but Mr Suren declined.

The group then started attacking Mr Suren and Mr Virrat. Aravinthan stabbed Mr Suren with a pen knife twice in the thigh, while the others punched and kicked him.

When Mr Virrat attempted to help Mr Suren, the group directed their attack towards him, punching him in the face. Mr Virrat, who suffered eye injuries, managed to break free from the group and escaped.

Mr Suren was left bleeding on the ground as the group fled the void deck in a car.

A member of the public called the police at around 9am, and Mr Suren was taken to hospital with injuries including a broken thigh and cuts. He was hospitalised for 26 days.

District Judge Kessler Soh said Aravinthan did not cause the most serious injuries to the victim, and acknowledged that he had not attacked "a more vulnerable part such as the face".

Last week, Rajendran Seganathan, 35, was jailed for 20 months, while Mithunraj Thiruchelvam, 24, was jailed for 19 months for their roles in the attack.

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