Youth who attacked 2 men together with his father admits to assault
When a girl’s current boyfriend asked her ex-boyfriend to meet him and discuss some relationship issues, the latter’s father accompanied his son and brought a bamboo pole with him.
A confrontation ensued and led to two men being treated in hospital. One of them sustained a fracture in his left eye socket.
On Wednesday (19 September), Chionh Ze Xing, a 19-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty in the State Courts to two counts of voluntarily causing hurt. One count of criminal breach of trust, committed while he was working in a convenience store, will be taken into account when he is sentenced.
His father, Chionh Boon Seng, 49, was jailed three months for his role in the incident and other unrelated charges last year.
The incident occured on 29 May 2016 at about 5.30pm when two men who were related to Chionh’s former girlfriend decided to ask Chionh about his relationship with several girls at a flat at Teck Whye Lane.
Yang Ziyi, 29, was a friend of Chionh’s ex-girlfriend while Aaron Teo Jin Wei, 20, was the current boyfriend of Chionh’s ex-girlfriend.
According to a 2016 report by AsiaOne, Teo was angry that his girlfriend, 14, stayed overnight at Chionh’s house and had arranged a meeting to settle the dispute.
Teo called Chionh and asked to meet at the foot of the block while Yang and several other friends waited at the void deck.
Chionh informed his father about the call. When his father saw the group of people at the void deck, he decided to accompany his son. He brought with him a 91 cm wooden pole wrapped in newspaper.
Upon reaching the badminton court, Chionh approached Teo aggressively, said the prosecution. The elder Chionh, who reached shortly after his son, swung the pole at Teo. The younger Chionh then punched Teo in his eye, breaking his spectacles and causing a cut on Teo’s eyelid.
Teo momentarily lost consciousness and fell. However, the assault continued while Teo was on the ground. He was hit by the pole several times on his forearm and shoulder. The father and son only stopped their attack after a passer-by intervened.
Yang, who heard Teo’s cry for help, hurried over but was also hit by the two attackers. Chionh punched Yang’s face multiple times while the elder Chionh hit his face three times with the bamboo pole, causing the victim’s nose to bleed. Yang later escaped to a car park.
Chionh surrendered himself to the police at the scene.
Yang was diagnosed with bruises on his forehead with abrasions. His medical bills amounted to $909.65. His mobile phone was also damaged and caused $278.40 to repair.
Teo sustained a fracture to his left eye socket, bruises over his right forearm, and abrasions on his skull. His medical bills amounted to $108.
The prosecution called for probation and reformative training reports to assess Chionh’s suitability for either. Deputy Public Prosecutor Darshini Ramiah said that the injuries sustained by the two victims were serious and that Chionh had committed the offences while on probation for other offences.
Chionh’s lawyer, Ong Qiao Hui, said that her client had already paid $500 in compensation and was intending to make additional compensation of $1,000 to the victims over the next few weeks. The lawyer said that placing Chionh on reformative training would be “counter productive” as Chionh was currently serving his national service, which can be rehabilitative for him.
On his father’s involvement, Chionh told the court through his lawyer that his father had been undergoing treatment for depression at the time and had not taken his medication on the day of the assault.
Chionh will be remanded while undergoing assessment for probation and reformative training. He will next appear in court on 26 September.
Other Singapore stories
‘Fashionable’ not to own or drive a car in Singapore: Sitoh Yih Pin
East-West Line delay due to switch mechanism problem: Janil Puthucheary
Two power generating units’ tripping caused 18 Sept blackout: EMA’s initial probe
