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Man tried to poison nephew's milk carton with insecticide

Hand pouring milk
Photo from Getty Images

SINGAPORE — He poisoned his nephew’s milk carton with a bottle of insecticide from their workplace at a FairPrice Xtra outlet in anger over a scolding.

On Thursday (5 December), Nithye Kumeren Alagapan, 26, was jailed for six months on one count of attempting to administer Kanageswarran K Ranganathan a poison, intending to cause him hurt. One count of stealing the bottle of insecticide, priced at $4.50, was taken into consideration for his sentencing.

Nithye, a Malaysian, and his 20-year-old nephew, were working as retail assistants at FairPrice Xtra at Nex mall, where the incident took place.

On 15 June, before 1.30am, Kanageswarran scolded Nithye for sleeping in a toilet during work hours. This angered the older man.

Later, Kanageswarran left a carton of Marigold chocolate milk on a table in the preparation room before leaving for his break. Ten minutes later, Nithye took a bottle of “Horti On” insecticide from one of the shelves at the supermarket and poured some into Kanageswarran’s milk.

Nithye then threw away the bottle of insecticide.

When Kanageswarran returned from his break, he wanted to drink from the milk carton but smelt something toxic. He decided against drinking the milk.

He lodged a police report three days later, claiming that his drink was spiked.

On 21 June, the bottle of insecticide and the milk carton were sent to the Health Sciences Authority for forensic examination. Both tested positive for malathion, an insecticide, which is a human poison when ingested and when it touches the skin.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kwang Jia Min asked for at least six months’ jail, noting that Nithye had spiked his nephew’s drink maliciously as he was angry at the victim for scolding him.

Nithye’s lawyer, T M Sinnadurai, said that his client, who hails from Perak, has been working in Singapore since 2014 to clear his father’s debt and support his mother, who is suffering from advanced thyroid cancer.

His sister and nephew found him a job at FairPrice through a contact.

Nithye was unable to get along with Kanageswarran, who had been picking at his uncle’s mistakes, said the lawyer.

“One fine day, when he was having a break - it was working hours but during his break time - the nephew was finding trouble with his uncle, and that was the last straw,” said Sinnadurai.

For committing theft as a servant, Nithye could have been jailed up to seven years and fined. For attempting to administer a poison to a person, he could have been jailed up to 10 years, and fined or caned.

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