42 months' jail for chopper attack

He had been banned from entering a nightspot after a dispute with its manager.

But Matthew Tan (right), now 40, returned to Club Diva at Golden Mile Complex at around 11pm on Feb 18 last year and left in a huff when he was turned away.

Fuming, he later spotted the manager's friend, Mr Yong Yoong Shin, at the Beach Road shopping mall and attacked him with a chopper.

Tan, who is self-employed, was jailed for 42 months yesterday after pleading guilty to one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt.

Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Puvaneswari Sandirasekaran said that after he was turned away at the door, an indignant Tan demanded to see the general manager to find out why he was not allowed inside.

He created a ruckus and this prompted the club management to call for police assistance.

Tan angrily left the scene after he was told to stop shouting and warned to behave himself.

At around 12.50am the next day, Mr Yong, who is also self-employed, was coming back from the toilet at the basement of Golden Mile Complex when he bumped into Tan.

Tan confronted him over a dispute that had happened between them a few weeks back. Court papers did not mention what it was about.

When Mr Yong ignored him, Tan took out the chopper that he had slipped into the back of his trousers and charged at the younger man.

He slashed his face and torso several times and was still assaulting him when the police arrived at the scene shortly before 1am.

Two police officers separated the pair and when they interviewed Tan, he admitted that he had slashed Mr Yong as he wanted to take revenge.

An ambulance took Mr Yong to Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He was found to have injuries including cuts on his face, back and a fracture to his facial bone.

APP Puvaneswari urged District Judge Kamala Ponnampalam to sentence Tan to between three and four years' jail.

She stressed that the attack had been unprovoked and Mr Yong had been unarmed.

Tan's lawyer, Mr S.S. Dhillon, asked the judge to jail his client for three years.

He said in the mitigation plea that Tan, who was a first-time offender, was "deeply remorseful".

For voluntarily causing grievous hurt, he could have been jailed up to 15 years and fined or caned.

This article was first published on June 25, 2015.
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