Repeat offender jailed for assaulting friend
A repeat offender was sentenced to three months in jail on Tuesday (Aug 8) for assaulting his friend shortly after serving an earlier sentence for a similar crime.
Odd-job worker Karthikeyan Murty, 32, was jailed for 10 weeks in June last year for causing hurt. He admitted that he assaulted Mr Vinishvaran Balakrihnan, 23, about five months later.
The two men had gone to the flat of their friend, Mr Subramaniam Perumal, in Lompang Road in Bukit Panjang to have drinks at around 8pm on Nov 26, last year.
About seven hours later, Mr Subramaniam, 29, told the pair to leave his home as they were arguing with each other.
Shortly, he heard shouts coming from outside his unit and saw his two friends fighting along the corridor.
Failing to stop the scuffle, Mr Subramaniam decided to inform the police.
When he returned to the corridor, he found a bloodied Mr Vinishvaran lying on the ground near his flat.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Selene Yap said: "Subramaniam went to check on Vinish. At this juncture, the accused approached Vinish and said 'You are challenging me to a one on one fight' in Tamil. The accused then dragged Vinish to the staircase landing between the first and second floors."
Police arrived at the scene and found Mr Vinishvaran bleeding from his head. He was still conscious.
Karthikeyan, who suffered a 3cm cut below his left eye, tried to walk away but officers stopped him.
Mr Vinishvaran was taken to National University Hospital where he was found to have injuries including a fracture at his left eye socket, bruises on his face and a cut at the back of his head.
DPP Yap said that he had earlier been sentenced to three months' jail for assaulting Karthikeyan.
Urging the court to sentence Karthikeyan to at least four months' jail, she stressed that Mr Vinishvaran suffered serious injuries.
Karthikeyan's lawyer, Mr S. Govindaraju, who represented him pro-bono, told the court in his mitigation that his client is a single parent with five children under his care.
He added that Karthikeyan is remorseful and pleaded for a sentence similar to Mr Vinishvaran's.
Karthikeyan, is now out on a bail of $5,000 to settle family matters. He will begin serving his sentence on Aug 15.
For causing hurt, he could have been jailed for up to two years and fined up to $5,000.
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now
