Two of the seven involved in the fight that led to the death of Mr Satheesh Noel Gobidass were sentenced to jail on Wednesday (Mar 4).
Joel Tan Yun Sheng ,26, pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to the victim by common intention. His charge of consorting with co-accused Tan Sen Yang, who was carrying an offensive weapon, was taken into consideration. For this, he was sentenced to 4 weeks in prison.
Co-accused Ang Da Yuan ,26, pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to the victim by punching and kicking him and to consorting with Tan Sen Yang. His third charge was taken into consideration. He was sentenced to 8 months in prison and 6 strokes of the cane.
Of the 7 charged, only Tan Sen Yang faces a murder charge. The 6 others have had their charges reduced.
The court heard for the first time the events that unfolded on Jul 2 2019 that led to Mr Satheesh’s death. The night had began with Da Yuan and Joel drinking beer at Club Mao at Oriental Plaza. Natalie Siow, another co-accused, joined them at around 1 am. After awhile, they then moved to Club Peaches in the Orchard area. About three hours later, at around 5 am, the group went to meet up more friends including Tan Sen Yang at Club Aura at Orchard Hotel. Now consisting of 10 people, the group walked over to Orchard Towers to enter the Naughty Girl club.
In Naughty Girl, Sen Yang had taken out a Karambit knife and slammed it on the table. Joel then covered it and pushed it back towards Sen Yang telling him to keep it and not show it around. As the group were leaving at around 6.20 am, they faced some congestion at the door with a group of five who were coming in. Seng Yang in a verbal scuffle with the other group and both he and Da Yuan exchanged secret society slogans. The security officers of the club then started to intervene while more people started to gather. CCTV footage outside the club showed Sen Yang brandishing the Karambit knife around. Swinging it at everyone, he slashed a security officer’s finger and a man’s face. Natalie was jumping at people at the entrance and also overturned a table.
After someone shouted “Police”, the scuffle dispersed. As the group were exiting Orchard Towers, Satheesh came down the escalator and confronted Da Yuan. As the two began to fight, Joel, Sen Yang and Natalie joined in. Sen Yang then swung his knife at the victim’s lower jaw and neck, slashing him several times. As Joel threw threw a punch at the victim and Natalie continued to hit him, he noticed a lot of blood on the victim’s face. As he bled profusely, Satheesh retreated. Da Yuan however, continued his aggression raining blows on the victim’s face. As his group finally restrained him and left the building, Satheesh walked a few steps before collapsing on the floor. He was pronounced dead at around 7.25 am.
Joel Tan and Ang Da Yuan are the first two to be sentenced in this case.
Many netizens shared the same feeling of the sentence not being up to the crime committed.
One user felt that we should not be the ones judging this issue.
