Little India pub manager jailed for assaulting patron, knocking out 3 of his front teeth

SINGAPORE — A floor manager at a pub in Little India assaulted a patron so severely that several of the victim’s teeth were knocked out and a cut on his lip had to be stitched, a court heard.

Prakash Manikam, 28, then continued to assault the victim by the road.

At the State Courts on Monday (27 May), Prakash was sentenced to six months’ jail after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of causing hurt. He was acquitted of a rioting charge after a 14-day trial.

Prakash was also fined $500 for obstructing a police officer on a separate occasion in April 2018.

He has paid the fine but is appealing against the six-month jail term.

Argument over whiskey bottle

Prakash worked at Sorgam pub in Dalhouise Lane and at Aashiyana club in Dunlop Street nearby.

On the evening of 6 September 2016, the victim, Logeeswaran Shunmugam, went to Sorgam with three friends, Selvarajan Subramaniam, Punithan Kanniappan and Krishna Moorthy Anaye.

At about 2.45am the next morning, the group tried to leave the pub with their unfinished bottle of whiskey. An argument broke out between the men and pub staff.

Shortly after, the owner of Sorgam and Aashiyana, Haji Mohamed Shaik Allauddin, arrived with another employee Chandran Thambusamy. Haji called the police at about 3.10am.

Later, officers told Haji that Logeeswaran and his friends were asking if they could return to the pub for drinks. Haji lied to the policemen that the patrons had finished their bottle of liquor.

Logeeswaran and his friends then left in a taxi hailed by the police at about 3.40am.

Victim uttered vulgarity at accused

However, the group returned about five minutes later in the same taxi. A fight then broke out between the group and Prakash, Haji and Chandran.

When Prakash asked Logeeswaran why he came back and what he wanted, Logeeswaran replied with a vulgarity.

In response, Prakash punched Logeeswaran hard on the mouth and Chandran gave a blow to the back of the victim’s head.

Prakash then swung Logeeswaran down onto the road, dragged him on the road by his left hand, threw him against some railings and kicked him.

Logeeswaran was sent to hospital via ambulance. He had two missing upper front teeth, one missing lower front teeth, and a cut on his lower lip that had to be stitched.

‘Plainly violent attack’

Deputy Public Prosecutors Wong Kok Weng and Mark Yeo asked for at least one month’s jail.

Prakash’s lawyer Dhillon Surinder Singh said his client was remorseful and the offence was committed on the spur of the moment. The lawyer agreed with the prosecution on the jail term.

However, District Judge Jasvender Kaur disagreed with both parties. “The injuries were plainly severe,” she said, noting that three of the victim’s teeth were knocked completely out and the cut on his lip had to be stitched.

“It would obviously follow that these three missing teeth would have resulted in the victim having some difficulty to eat and drink until he sought dental treatment,” she said in grounds of decision published on Friday (31 May).

The judge added, “It was plainly a violent attack. In my assessment, based on the harm and degree of violence, it would have fallen at the high end of a sentencing range of between six and 12 months imprisonment.”

While the judge accepted that the vulgarity used by the victim was “deplorable” and would have caused Prakash to have been aggrieved, she considered it as low level provocation.

Context and proportionality matter, she said, and the context was that Prakash was a floor manager at the pub, whose duties included keeping order. The vulgarity was not reproduced in the written judgement.

The judge also noted that Prakash did not have a clean record. In August 2007, he was put on 21 months’ probation for impersonating a public servant and theft, with another charge of causing hurt considered in sentencing.

He was also fined $500 for using threatening or abusive language in May 2013.

He was fined and given a driving ban in 2007 and 2013 for similar charges of taking a vehicle without consent, and driving without a licence and insurance coverage.

The maximum punishment for causing hurt is up to two years’ jail, along with a fine of up to $5,000.

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