SINGAPORE, Nov 2 — Jealous that a man had been speaking to his girlfriend, Muhammad Sajid Saleem hatched a plan with a fellow secret society member to attack the man in broad daylight in Boon Lay, shortly after a wedding celebration.
Video clips of the incident, which took place in a carpark near Block 175 Boon Lay Drive on April 6 this year, circulated widely on social media. The attack also led to an island-wide manhunt for the duo.
Today, Sajid, 20, pleaded guilty to a single charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt with a weapon to Praveen Raj Chanthiran, 23.
Sajid, who appeared in court via a video link from remand, also pleaded guilty to a single charge of being a secret society member from July 2020 to December 2021.
Three other similar charges will be taken into consideration for his sentencing, which has been adjourned to November 23.
District Judge Carol Ling called for a reformative training report to be prepared for Sajid. Reformative training is a regimented rehabilitation programme for those under 21 who commit relatively serious crimes.
What happened
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) R Arvindren told the court that tensions between Sajid and Praveen over Sajid’s girlfriend started sometime in February this year.
It was not stated if Sajid and the woman, who was not named, are still a couple.
In any case, the prosecutor said that Sajid was “infuriated” that the woman and Praveen had been messaging each other.
Though Sajid told Praveen to stop it, the latter continued contacting the woman through phone calls instead.
DPP Arvindren said that this caused the two men to have an argument over Sajid’s jealousy and other personal matters.
On April 5, Sajid allegedly made a plan with a friend and fellow secret society member to attack Praveen after they learned that he would be attending the wedding of a mutual friend, Emmanuel Ravi, at Boon Lay the following day.
Sajid’s friend, a 19-year-old, stands accused of being an accomplice in the attack, and also faces charges for being a secret society member between 2016 and April 2022.
As he was aged 14 in 2016, he cannot be named under the Children and Young Persons Act (CYPA), which bans the publication of the identities of young offenders under age 18.
On the day of the attack, the duo allegedly equipped themselves with a pair of bread knives they had purchased, which measured about 24cm in length, and drank beer before they left for Boon Lay.
When they arrived at Boon Lay at around 3.45pm, Sajid and his accomplice drank more beer and began tracking Praveen’s movements through his social media account.
About an hour later, they spotted Praveen exiting a vehicle with a group of friends, including one Sarankumar Subramaniam, 22.
DPP Arvindren said they had just returned from Emmanuel’s wedding celebrations and were intending to continue with it at the groom’s home.
At about 5pm, Sajid and his alleged accomplice ran towards Praveen and swung his knife towards his rival’s head.
Praveen, on his part, blocked the blow with his hands, which were later slashed by his attackers.
Meanwhile, Sarankumar shouted at the attackers to stop, but it only served to turn their aggression towards him and he was slashed on the head by Sajid.
Twice Praveen tried to flee, but on both occasions, he was chased down and attacked by Sajid and his alleged accomplice — once, outside a coffeeshop, and the other at the walkway of a public housing block.
The men eventually stopped attacking Praveen, who they had kicked to the ground, and saw Emmanuel at the carpark.
DPP Arvindren said Emmanuel, who was shocked at what the two men had allegedly done, had asked why they had to ruin his wedding.
The younger of the attackers allegedly pointed his knife at Emmanuel in a threatening manner and wanted to slash him, but Sajid pulled him back as he “did not have any prior dispute” with Emmanuel and had no intentions of harming him.
Sajid and his alleged accomplice fled the scene and disposed of their knives in a rubbish chute in the Jurong vicinity. The knives were not recovered.
They eventually surrendered to the police on April 7 after an island-wide manhunt.
DPP Arvindren said that not only had the attack left Praveen with multiple slash wounds all over his body, but he also suffered fractures around his wrist, elbow and a finger.
Praveen had to undergo multiple surgeries to address his injuries.
As for Sarankumar, he had suffered a laceration on his scalp which measured about 8cm in length.
The case for Sajid’s accomplice is still before the courts, and he is expected to plead guilty to similar charges on November 9.
Anyone found guilty of voluntarily causing grievous hurt with weapons, can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined or caned.
Those found guilty of being secret society members can be jailed for up to three years and fined up to S$5,000 (RM16,788). — TODAY
