Man who witnessed Jurong West slashing lied to police to protect assailant

SINGAPORE — A man who witnessed a stabbing incident at Jurong West and lied about it to the police was jailed for 17 months, five weeks and fined $4,000 on Friday (7 January).

Edmund Kam Wei Liang, 23, who was a member of the Pak Hai Tong secret society then, was not the assailant but had watched a friend, Teo Shou Ren, 29, slash a 27-year-old victim.

However, he had lied to the police, claiming that he did not see Teo use a weapon during the attack.

Kam pleaded guilty to a charge of providing false information to the police. The incident went viral after pictures of the bloody attack at a garden in front of Block 452 Jurong West Street 42 were shared online.

Separately, Kam pleaded guilty to being part of a secret society, for rioting, and for breaching COVID-19 measures for meeting two others outside of his residence during the circuit breaker period.

Kam was a member of the Pak Hai Tong gang between 28 February 2014 and 7 October 2020.

On 10 May 2020 at night, Teo met the victim at the garden. Kam, who was with Teo, saw the latter carry a knife behind his back before the attack.

When Teo assaulted the victim, Kam did not join in and later left the location with Teo.

The police shortly received a 999 call about the incident.

As a result of the attack, the victim suffered multiple lacerations on his body and facial fractures. He underwent surgery and was hospitalised from 10 to 15 May 2020.

On 11 May 2020, Kam was arrested for his alleged involvement. He recorded a statement with a police officer and lied that he did not see Teo use a weapon. He knew that the false information would cause the police to omit their investigation against Teo.

Kam finally admitted in a further statement on 19 May 2020 that he did see Teo carry a knife behind his back.

Teo was charged with voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon and was jailed for 10 months for the charge on 22 December last year.

Separately, Kam was involved in a case of rioting at Ming Arcade with fellow members of the Pak Hai Tong gang. One of the members was Tan Hong Sheng, who was involved in the infamous Orchard Towers attack.

While having drinks with his gang members on 18 November 2018 at a club, a stranger bumped shoulders with Tan while on the way to a toilet. The stranger raised his hands to apologise, but Tan challenged him to a fight.

After a staring incident later, Tan, Kam and six other members of the gang confronted the stranger again. A friend of the stranger tried to intervene and was attacked by the group. They punched and kicked the stranger's friend, with one person tripping him to the ground. Tan and another member then picked up a glass bottle and hit the victim on the head, with other members used beer buckets to attack him.

The attack lasted for three minutes and the gang fled after realising that the police had been notified.

The victim was sent to hospital and found to have bruising and a laceration on his right hand. Tan was sentenced to 32 months' jail and four strokes of the cane over the incident.

Kam's lawyer S Ramanujen sought a jail term of between 17 and 18 months. He said that Kam was "young" and "foolish" at the time of the offences but has since understood the gravity of his actions and their consequences.

Kam, a car dealer, lives with his parents and has not gotten into trouble since the offences, the lawyer added.

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