Jailed for scalding inmate, illegally leaving country
PUBLISHED ONJuly 02, 2014 9:00 PMByElena Chong
A prisoner who poured a bucket of hot water over a fellow inmate in a revenge attack was jailed for a total of 21/2 years yesterday. Secret society member Mustafa Ya'acob, 59, left 51-year-old Aaron Ayoop Khan with burns covering almost a fifth of his body. A court heard how Mustafa attacked Khan after the latter tried to stop a fellow member of their "Omega" group from assaulting an officer at Changi Prison.
Mustafa, who was being detained for drug offences, was standing nearby when he saw Khan intervene to stop the assault, but refused to help as he did not want to cause trouble within the group.
Deputy Public Prosecutor S. Adrianni Marhain said Mustafa was reprimanded two days later for his failure to intervene, which is required of inmates in such situations. Later, Mustafa saw Khan watching TV in the mess area. Angry at what had happened, Mustafa went to the kitchen to get a bucket of hot water which he emptied on Khan.
Mustafa was released from prison last December, placed on three years' police supervision and tagged. However, on April 1 - a day before he was supposed to admit to causing grievous hurt in court - he absconded. He deliberately cut the rubber strip and security clip of the electronic monitoring system transmitter tag strapped to his ankle.
He left Singapore on April 6 by sampan, which took him to a ship en route to Batam. He then made his way from the Indonesian island to Johor, Malaysia, where he was arrested and extradited to Singapore on April 30.
Mustafa pleaded guilty to four charges of causing grievous hurt, failing to remain indoors between 7pm and 6am, mischief, and leaving Singapore without the authority of the director of the Criminal Investigation Department.
His lawyer Justin Tan said his client carried out the attack out of frustration on the "spur of the moment" and was genuinely remorseful.
elena@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on June 1, 2014.
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