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Ex-hostess jailed for blinding colleague with stiletto

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Ex-hostess jailed for blinding colleague with stiletto

A former nightclub hostess who had blinded the left eye of her then colleague with her 14.5cm-high stiletto heel was sentenced to 16 months' jail yesterday.

Siti Zahara Afifi Abdul Karim, 28, was also ordered to pay compensation of $5,923 for the medical expenses of Ms Nur Lena Rahmat, 30, who is now effectively blind.

The mother of three had admitted to causing grievous hurt to the then 29-year-old part-time hostess through a rash act to endanger the personal safety of others.

In his brief sentencing remarks, District Judge Mathew Joseph said there were several aggravating factors.

Siti Zahara had attacked a sensitive and vulnerable part of the victim's body - the face and eye region - by thrusting her stiletto-heeled legs at Ms Nur Lena's face three times.

"In your unrestrained and consuming anger, you had perversely turned a simple fashion accessory item into a lethal weapon. This was simply astonishing and an incomprehensible and inhumane act on your part," he said.

The judge said she had behaved in an "extremely aggressive manner" and had continued attacking the victim even after a bystander tried to stop her.

Siti Zahara repeated her rash acts, hitting the victim not once but three times.

She stopped only when the victim cried out, "I cannot see, I cannot see".

"And even though she was in obvious distress, the accused persisted in attacking her victim, which resulted in the horrific eye injuries. This was sheer wanton violence," Judge Joseph added.

Ms Nur Lena, who now wears a prosthetic eye, is effectively blind with limited vision in her right eye.

"It is almost beyond belief that a simple stiletto shoe heel can inflict such horrendous eye injuries. These serious injuries inevitably must constitute further aggravating factors in this case," he said.

BRACES

Both women were at Club One KTV Boutique in Jalan Sultan at about 3am on Oct 8, 2015, when they had an argument over the money paid for the braces of Siti Zahara's younger sister.

The sister had been in a relationship with Ms Nur Lena's male friend, who wanted to keep paying for her braces even after they broke up, though the victim urged her friend not to.

On the day of the incident, the dispute between the two escalated into a scuffle, during which Siti Zahara fell onto the floor with Ms Nur Lena.

Colleagues tried to stop the fight but Siti Zahara continued kicking in a fast and aggressive manner. Ms Nur Lena felt the heel hit her eyelid twice before the heel went into her eye, causing her eyeball to pop out.

Siti Zahara, who is out on $10,000 bail, will begin her sentence on Nov 23 as she wants to raise money to pay the victim.

She could have been jailed for up to four years and/or fined up to $10,000.

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