Drunken construction worker bit off tip of colleague's pinky after quarrel

SINGAPORE — Following a verbal altercation with a drunken colleague, a construction worker attempted to push the man away - but the man then proceeded to bite off the tip of the worker’s left pinky.

The tip of his finger, which was found at the incident scene at a Kranji workers’ dormitory, could not be reattached.

His assailant, Logan Govindaraj, 31, pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt on Wednesday (24 November). Both Logan and the victim, 42, are construction workers who lived at the same dormitory.

On 6 December last year, the victim returned to his dormitory and joined a friend in a parked lorry. Logan, who had drunk at least three 500ml cans of beer at the time, joined the two a while later.

While in the lorry, Logan scolded the victim and accused him of sleeping with other workers in the dormitory. The victim told him not to lie, but Logan persisted in his behaviour, prompting the victim to open the lorry door and to ask Logan to leave.

When Logan alighted, the victim also left as he wanted to avoid Logan, who was drunk and shouting. However, Logan blocked the victim from leaving.

The victim then placed his hand on Logan’s chest area near his mouth, to push him out of the way. At this point, Logan bit the tip of the victim’s left pinky off, causing him to bleed profusely.

The victim retaliated by slapping Logan’s head and grabbing him by his shirt, but soon realised a portion of his left pinky was missing. He hurriedly washed his hand in a basin and asked his friends to call an ambulance.

A dormitory supervisor was informed of the case and called the authorities.

The victim was conveyed to Khoo Teck Puat hospital. He underwent surgery on 7 December and was granted 28 days of hospitalisation.

One of the victim's medical reports stated that his left little finger had a fracture with a human bite wound. Health Sciences Authority analysis also found that Logan’s shirt was stained with the victim’s blood.

Logan’s case was adjourned to 29 December for a pre-trial conference for sentencing issues as both sides were unable to agree on how inconvenienced the victim is.

For voluntarily causing grievous hurt, Logan faces a jail term of up to 10 years, a fine or caning.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore