Man jailed for causing death in 'vicious and brutal' rampage at Boat Quay club
For nearly 10 minutes, a drunk deliveryman repeatedly attacked an acquaintance at a Boat Quay night club in July 2016, punching his face, hitting his head with a metal chair, and even stomping on his face as he lay helpless on the ground.
The attack left the 55-year-old victim with a broken face and skull, and bleeding in the brain. He died in hospital three days later.
On Monday (1 October), the assailant, Thennarasu Karupiah, was sentenced to 15 years’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Thennarasu, who turned 50 years old on 22 September, was also jailed for an additional five months in lieu of 10 strokes of the cane. Male offenders who are above 50 cannot be caned.
The High Court heard that Thennarasu, a Singapore permanent resident, drank 14 cans of 500ml of beer at a coffee shop in Serangoon Road on the night of 12 July 2016. At about 10.30pm, he went to Taj Mahal Bollywood Music Lounge at Boat Quay to continue drinking with two friends. The trio drank two 750ml bottles of whiskey there.
At about 4am the next day, the victim, Arokiasamy Paul Rajoo, entered the club. Thennarasu went to the balcony to smoke, and Arokiasamy went after him to speak to him there.
The duo had known each other from the 1980s, when they were in different secret society gangs. They also met each other in prison. While in jail, Arokiasamy had the impression that they were part of the same “Sarajumbo” secret society gang, Deputy Public Prosecutors Bhajanvir Singh and Dwayne Lum told the court.
The prosecutors played closed-circuit video footage of the assault in court.
After an argument at the balcony, Thennarasu is seen leaving at about 4.05am and Arokiasamy follows suit. Thannarasu returns to the balcony about five minutes later, and Arokiasamy confronts him again.
Thennarasu then tries to leave, but is tapped on his arm and called back by Arokiasamy. They then continue arguing.
At about 4.15pm, Arokiasamy allegedly insults Thennarasu by saying “your mother did not give birth to you by one father” in Tamil, and also alludes to him being born from “10 fathers”.
Thennarasu punches Arokiasamy’s face once, but is separated by two bystanders. Arokiasamy tries to kick Thennarasu twice, unsuccessfully. Thennarasu then kicks Arokiasamy once.
Both men push themselves past the two bystanders, and Thennarasu throws multiple punches at the victim’s face, upper body and head as they wrestle on the ground.
At about 4.15am, according to the CCTV footage, Arokiasamy sits on the floor with his right hand with palms open in front of him, and asks Thennarasu to stop hitting him. But the latter grabs a metal chair and hits the victim on the head, causing him to slump face down and remain motionless. As Arokiasamy lays on the ground unconscious, Thennarasu continues hitting him for at least eight times with the metal chair on the back of the upper body.
A bystander puts Arokiasamy, still unconscious, onto a chair at the balcony. Shortly after, Thennarasu spits at the unconscious victim. He also knocks Arokiasamy off the chair and onto the floor.
At about 4.25am, Thennarasu goes up to Arokiasamy, who raises his left hand to protect himself, as the former kicks his head. Thennarasu then stomps on the victim’s face three times.
Arokiasamy is left sprawling face up on the floor, and remains unresponsive thereafter. Thennarasu took a taxi home.
A bouncer and three other patrons carried Arokiasamy out of the balcony at about 4.30am. The bouncer called for an ambulance at about 5.30am.
Thennarasu later found out from a friend that Arokiasamy was badly injured and might die. He called a friend and asked for a place to stay in a bid to avoid the police, telling the friend that he was having problems with his wife at home. Policemen tracked him down and arrested him five days later, on 18 July 2016.
The prosecutors asked for 16 years’ jail, with an additional five months’ imprisonment in lieu of 10 strokes of the cane. They noted the “forcefulness and ferocity of the near ten-minute long assault”.
They also pointed to Thennarasu’s long history of violence-related crimes, stretching back to when he was 16 years old. Among other convictions, he was jailed for 13 months with six strokes of the cane in 1994 for causing grievous hurt, and jailed for 6.5 years with four strokes of the cane in 2001 for robbery with hurt.
Defence lawyer Thangavelu asked for a jail term of between eight and 10 years. There was no premeditation, and Arokiasamy had insulted his client’s parents, said the lawyer.
High Court judge Hoo Sheau Peng agreed with the prosecution that the attack was “vicious and brutal”.
Thennarasu, whose sentence was backdated to the date of his remand on 18 July 2016, could have been jailed for up to 20 years, or for life.
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