Meet-up turns into beat-up

Meet-up turns into beat-up

The two teens claimed they were beaten up by nine people for no reason.

Chinese national Fan Xing, 17, was left with a torn lip, dislocated jaw and swellings on the head, while Taiwanese national Yang Jet Jin, 19, had a broken nose and bruises to his eyes.

The teens, who called The New Paper hotline, claimed they were not part a gang.

When probed, Fan Xing said he had quit Secondary 4 at Balestier Hill Secondary School this year because of conduct problems. He declined to elaborate.

Their ordeal, they claim, began on March 15 when Fan Xing and Mr Yang, who is a Secondary 5 student at the same school, were at a coffee shop opposite Shaw Plaza in Balestier.

They were having dinner at about 5pm when they received a call from friends.

Said Fan Xing: "(He) told me to head down to 'slack around' at the void deck of a HDB block like we usually do, so I did not sense anything fishy about it."

When they arrived at Block 102, Jalan Rajah at close to 8pm, a group of about nine people were sitting around a table tennis table waiting for them.

The boys know several people in the group including two whom Fan Xing called "close friends".

No one said a word and one of the group suddenly charged at Mr Yang and threw a punch at him.

Fan Xing said: "I tried to help Jet Jin, but before I could, some of them came towards me and started punching and elbowing me as well. I fell to the ground and my spectacles broke.

"There wasn't even any time for us to react, all we could do was defend ourselves. We were completely outnumbered."

He heard one of the youths shouting "bring me my parang" though there were no visible weapons around.

Mr Yang, a Taiwanese who has been studying here for about 10 years, said he managed to shake off his attackers and ran to a nearby police station for help.

Fan Xing later managed to pull himself up. He ran for his life, jumping into a taxi to get away from the gang.

Seeing his injuries, the taxi driver drove him straight to a police station so that he could make a report.

Mr Yang took the police back to the scene of the assault, but the group had fled by then.

A police spokesman confirmed the case and said they have arrested five males in relation to the case. Investigations are ongoing.

TNP has been unable to contact members of the other party involved in the fight.

SOME WERE FRIENDS

Fan Xing said: "It is very shocking to us because at least four of the group which attacked us are from our school, and two were my classmates last year.

"I saw them as my closest friends and I don't understand why they would beat us up," he added.

When contacted, Balestier Hill Secondary School said it was aware of the incident involving its students.

The school said it has no gang problems and is assisting the police in investigations.

Both boys have been studying here since they were in primary school and have known each other for eight years.

Their families are not in Singapore.

Fan Xing stays alone in a condominium. His mother is in China.

He said: "My mother says my future is important, but my safety is more important. She is making plans for me to return to China where I have family to look out for me."

He added that he now thinks twice when people ask him out and prefers to go to places that have surveillance cameras.

Mr Yang, who stays with a guardian in a private hostel, said his parents have asked him to keep a low profile.

"It's very difficult for us to trust people now. Fan Xing used to be so close to some of the boys, but they turned on him," he said.

Both boys maintained that they were not part of a gang and did not do anything to offend their friends.

Fan Xing said: "If we had offended them and knew we would get beaten up, why would we still dare to meet them?"

ahwarng@sph.com.sg

ARE TEENS PART OF GANG?

We questioned Fan Xing, 17, and Yang Jet Jin, 19, about gang connections:

Are the two of you involved in any gangs?

No.

Do you know if any of your friends who attacked you were involved in any gangs or had connections with people in gangs?

No, not that we know of.

Did you know them to be involved in such violent acts before?

No.

Do you have any idea why you would be beaten up by these people who seemed to be your friends?

No, we have no idea at all.

Are you aware of anything before the encounter that may have offended anyone from the other party?

If we had known we would get beaten up, we wouldn't have gone down to meet them when they called for us. We thought this would be just like any other time we gathered at the void deck.


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