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SINGAPORE: Two men linked to the death of a bystander after a 2017 fight in Geylang were sentenced to four years in prison and six strokes of the baton on Monday (December 28).
Bangladeshi nationals Rana Sohel, 38, and Mollah Hasan, 34, had been convicted after trial on one count each of voluntarily causing serious harm with common intent.
The incident occurred on the morning of July 9, 2017 at a restaurant in Lorong 24A.
Rana, Mollah, and co-defendant Reza Hasan were at the restaurant when another diner, Tan Wei Li, mistakenly thought that Rana’s group was scolding their friends.
Tan confronted them, slapping his hand on the table and spitting out Hokkien vulgarity.
The victim, Lim Leong Tat, 42, was also at the restaurant and did not know Tan or Rana’s group of friends. He stepped in and hit Rana while Tan and Rana were cursing each other.
A fight broke out, with Reza pushing the victim onto the road before Rana and Mollah chased after her. They repeatedly attacked him on the back of the neck.
When the victim tried to escape, Rana pulled him by the hair and hit him repeatedly until he fell. Mollah joined in and threw the victim against a blind, before striking him face down on the concrete pavement.
After the assault, the victim managed to walk several meters to the rear lane of Lorong 24A Geylang, where he was seen squatting.
This was likely a reflex action due to the lack of blood flow to his heart as a result of his serious neck injury, the prosecution said.
The victim sat on the side of the road and was later found dead in the alley.
An autopsy found blunt force injuries to the neck, a partial dislocation of the vertebrae in the upper neck of the skull, as well as an injury to the spinal cord and lower brainstem resulting in cardiorespiratory failure.
All three defendants had denied the charges, saying they did not commit the acts, some of which were captured on closed-circuit television footage. Rana claimed that his attacks were in self-defense, but the prosecution called it “without merit.”
Reza was sentenced in September to six months in jail for willfully causing harm with common intent.
For voluntarily causing serious harm, Rana and Mollah could have been imprisoned for up to 10 years and fined or punished.
