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SINGAPORE: A construction worker who attacked another worker with a fire extinguisher in a bedroom after a dispute was sentenced Thursday (October 1) to three months in jail.
Shanmugadaiyar Thandapani, 44, pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing harm with a dangerous weapon to a roommate nearly 20 years his junior in a dorm in Ubi in July.
The court heard that both men were construction workers from India and were staying in the dormitory of Block 57, Ubi Crescent.
At approximately 10 p.m. on July 30, Shanmugadaiyar was eating in the room he shared with other people when the victim came in to visit his friend.
Shanmugadaiyar was not happy and asked the victim why he had come to his room. The victim responded by saying that anyone was free to do so.
At this, Shanmugadaiyar pulled out his phone to take a photo of the victim, and a fight ensued despite the efforts of other bunkmates to break it.
During the fight, Shanmugadaiyar tried to swing a chair towards the victim and hit him with a wooden chest, but was stopped by his littermates.
When the victim left the room, Shanmugadaiyar followed him.
He then grabbed a fire extinguisher from a stair landing and struck the victim on the back of the neck, causing him to fall flat on his face.
The victim fainted and bled from the eyebrows and lips.
A police report was made and the victim was diagnosed with lacerations to the eyebrow and lip, with swelling in the eye area.
Deputy Prosecutor Benedict Teong asked for at least three months in jail and noted that Shanmugadaiyar had no prior convictions.
However, he said that the extinguisher weighed 2 kg and Shanmugadaiyar was persistent in trying to hit the victim. Finally, she hit the victim on the back of the neck, which is a vulnerable region, Teong added.
Shanmugadaiyar wept during her mitigation, which was provided through a Tamil interpreter.
He said, “Your Honor, I am begging for your indulgence. This COVID-19 situation has changed my life. The victim and I had a misunderstanding and it turned into a fight … I admit that what I did was wrong.”
He said he was sorry and sorry for what he did.
“I have been working in Singapore for the last 10 years and this is my first brush with the law,” he said. “I want to go back to India as soon as possible. My parents are sick and hospitalized. I am the sole breadwinner in my family.”
The judge reversed the prison sentence until August 1, when Shanmugadaiyar received the first order of preventive detention.
For willfully causing harm with a dangerous weapon, Shanmugadaiyar could have been imprisoned for up to seven years, fined, punished, or any combination of those penalties.
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