Friends jailed for punching construction workers
Ronald Loh
Wednesday, Dec 16, 2015
Two friends, Sheo Prasad Giri Mittanlal and Lee Hee Kim, were having drinks at a coffee shop with their children on a Friday night.
That was until Lee spotted construction worker Sheikh Shahjahan whom he heard had been harassing Sheo's wife.
So the two men confronted and assaulted the 44-year-old Bangladeshi national - in front of their children.
Other coffee shop patrons eventually had to step in and stop the fight.
But the two men were not done and followed the victim to his workplace where they assaulted him again. One of the assailants also punched another construction worker in the face, leaving him with a nasal fracture.
Yesterday, Sheo, a 43-year-old taxi driver, and Lee, a 50-year-old delivery driver, were in court to answer for their crimes.
The court heard that the two friends had taken their children to a Potong Pasir Avenue 1 coffee shop for drinks at about 7pm on Dec 19 last year.
That was when Lee spotted Mr Sheikh buying drinks at the same coffee shop.
The two men decided to confront the construction worker.
Lee first grabbed Mr Sheikh from behind to prevent him from escaping. Mr Sheikh struggled but could not break free.
Sheo and Lee then punched Mr Sheikh in the face repeatedly until other coffee shop patrons separated the three men.
Mr Sheikh fled to his worksite at the same block and was reporting the incident to his foreman at about 7.20pm when Sheo and Lee walked in. The two men hurled vulgarities at Mr Sheikh before assaulting him again.
Mr Sheikh's foreman intervened and stopped the assault.
This was when fellow Bangladeshi construction worker Hosen Mohammad Milon, 22, heard the commotion and wanted to find out what was happening.
When Mr Hosen arrived at the scene, Sheo mistook him for coming to Mr Sheikh's aid and punched him in the face three times, causing him to bleed from his nose.
The foreman again intervened and broke up the fight before Sheo and Lee left the construction site.
FRACTURE
Mr Hosen was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital that day and was found to have suffered a nasal fracture.
Mr Sheikh was taken to Changi General Hospital the next day.
He was found to have a cut on his lip, a loose canine tooth, swelling on his face and abrasions on his right forearm. He was given three days' medical leave.
Yesterday, Sheo was jailed six months' for one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and one count of voluntarily causing hurt.
Lee was jailed a month for one count of voluntarily causing hurt.
District Judge Salina Ishak said in sentencing that the assault on Mr Sheikh was not committed on the spur of the moment as it happened twice on the same day.
One other charge of voluntarily causing hurt was taken into consideration during sentencing for each accused.
