Driver died from antlers being pierced in eye during scuffle with passenger
SINGAPORE — A scuffle between two men while a prime mover was on the move resulted in the driver’s eye socket being pierced by a pair of antlers that one of the passengers was holding.
Saravanan Arimuram, 31, had earlier used the same pair of antlers to stab another passenger in the prime mover on 15 February 2018.
On Tuesday (24 March), Saravanan was jailed one year and eight months after he pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt to Navin Partiban by using a pair of antlers to strike him on the back and one count of committing a rash act that endangered the life of Sivakumar Perumal by swinging the antlers at Navin while the prime mover was in motion.
Sivakumar, the driver who had the antler lodged in his eye, died from injuries to his brain sustained from the antlers. The 43-year-old was a driver for Applied Logistics and Saravanan’s ex-colleague.
Saravanan was originally charged with the murder of Sivakumar but had his charges downgraded later.
On 15 February 2018, the eve of Chinese New Year, Sivakumar, his nephew Navin, and their co-workers consumed alcoholic drinks at the void deck of Block 53 Teban Gardens.
Saravanan was having alcohol with a different group of men at the same void deck. He went over to chat with Sivakumar’s group several times.
At about 5pm, Sivakumar decided to leave with Navin to Yishun. Saravanan requested a lift to Yishun and Sivakumar agreed. Sivakumar sat on the extreme left of the front passenger seat while Navin sat to his right and Sivakumar drove.
As the journey was underway, Saravanan spoke through his mobile phone to his girlfriend, who told him to meet at Toa Payoh instead. After ending the call, Saravanan asked Sivakumar if he could be dropped off at Toa Payoh, but Sivakumar declined as he had a dinner appointment.
Saravanan then argued with Sivakumar and insisted on taking over the wheel. As the vehicle was along Jurong Town Hall Road near the junction of Ayer Rajah Expressway, Navin uttered a vulgarity at Saravanan and asked his uncle to drop Saravanan off immediately.
Upset, Saravanan grabbed a pair of antlers placed on the dashboard of the prime mover and stabbed Navin in the back with it. Sivakumar shouted at Saravanan before the prime mover mounted the left kerb and made a sharp turn right turn across two lanes.
It mounted the right kerb and climbed the adjacent embankment slope of the Teban Flyover before toppling on its left side.
“In the process, the antlers which (Saravanan) was holding on to was swung towards (Sivakumar’s) face. As a result, a branch of the antlers broke off and was embedded in (Sivakumar’s) left eye,” said the prosecution.
The pair of antlers measured about 49.5 cm vertically and 40 cm horizontally. His eye was removed and his eye socket impaled by the antler when he was found by Singapore Civil Defence Force officers. The unconscious man was conveyed to the hospital where he died at about 7.46pm.
An autopsy report found that Sivakumar died from extensive injuries to his brain from stab wounds to the left eye, which penetrated his skull.
Navin sustained a 15-cm deep wound to his back which stopped short of entering the cavity containing his organs. He also had abrasions over his shoulder, clavicle and upper chest, along with right ear trauma.
Saravanan had a 2-cm laceration over his chest and tenderness over the left ankle and foot.
Post-mortem samples showed that Sivakumar had 220 mg/100ml of alcohol in his blood, while he had 156 mg/100 ml of alcohol in his urine. The legal drink-driving limit is 80 mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
Saravanan had 132mg/100ml of alcohol in his blood sample.
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