Man jailed for beating neighbour with iron bar

Man jailed for beating neighbour with iron bar

SINGAPORE- A MAN who left his neighbour with serious head injuries after bashing him with an iron bar over a long-simmering dispute was jailed for six months yesterday.

Unemployed Sut Yew Khun, 51, hit Mr Goh Sam Choon repeatedly with the bar, fracturing his skull and the bones around his eyes during the fight at the void deck of their Housing Board block in Jurong West. The two men lived on the 15th floor of the block.

A resident on the fourth floor witnessed the fight on Feb 13 and shouted at Sut, who fled on his bicycle. Mr Goh, a 61-year-old construction industry worker, was taken to the National University Hospital and has since recovered.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Lim Yu Hui said that while it started as a fist fight, Sut had "escalated the violence" by grabbing the metal bar and hitting Mr Goh with it.

Defence counsel Yusfiyanto Yatiman pointed out that his client was not armed when the fight began at about 1pm.

"He picked up the metal rod from the front basket of his bicycle only after finding himself in a disadvantageous position during the fight," said Mr Yusfiyanto.

The court heard that Sut, who remained single so as to take care of his sick mother, used the rod as a bicycle stand as the original equipment was rusty.

District Judge Low Wee Ping said Sut, who was convicted for causing grievous hurt with a weapon, had picked up the bar not to defend himself but to inflict very serious injuries on Mr Goh.

He could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined for what Judge Low described as an "extremely violent offence".


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