Singapore—On February 21, an argument between two female students of the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) turned unexpectedly violent when one took out a folding knife and stabbed the other in her stomach, and then slashed her arm.
On Tuesday, October 8, eighteen-year-old Tusheta Saravanan pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt by a dangerous weapon to her classmate, seventeen-year-old Logeswari Natarajah.
There were two other charges taken into consideration concerning the case of Ms Tusheta, one for dishonest misappropriation of property and the other for carrying an offensive weapon in public.
District Judge Eddy Tham characterized Ms Tusheta’s behavior as extremely dangerous, and therefore agreed with a call from the prosecution for reformative training suitability report in the light of the offense’s serious nature. He also asked for a probation report.
The case is currently adjourned so that the report may be accomplished.
The incident occurred when Ms Logeswari, along with three of her friends, was on the overhead bridge in Bukit Batok Road near ITE College West at half-past noon on February 21, court documents show.
At the same time, Ms Tusheta and two friends were also on the bridge.
Although they go to the same college, the two students were unacquainted.
Ms Tusheta was drinking from a bottle of green tea, The New Paper (TNP) reports, and she splashed Ms Logeswari as she passed by.
The incident caused the two students to get into an argument, after which Ms Logeswari went away.
Ms Tusheta remained on the bridge with her friends, but she told them she was concerned that Ms Logeswari would be back. This concern led her to take her folding knife, which has an 8 centimeter long blade, that she had placed in her sock.
She placed the knife into the pocket of her jacket.
Ms Logeswari came back, carrying a cup of Milo, the contents of which she threw into the face of Ms Tusheta.
This caused a fight to break out between them, which ended up with Ms Tusheta lunging at Ms Logeswari with her knife.
When their friends realized that Ms Logeswari had been stabbed in the fight, they ended the fighting.
Court documents also showed that Ms Tusheta picked up Ms Logeswari’s gold pendant. She gave it to one of her friends, with the plan of selling it later on.
Ms Tusheta is currently in custody but will be back in court by Tuesday of next week, October 15.
According to TNP, Ms Logeswari is now back at ITE, having recovered from her injuries, while Ms Tusheta has been expelled from the school.
If Ms Tusheta is found guilty of voluntarily causing hurt by a dangerous weapon, she could be given a jail sentence for as long as seven years, be made to pay a fine, or a combination of the two penalties. As she is female, she cannot be caned for the offence. /TISG
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