Ryan Xavier Tay Seet Choong (right), 24, and his stepfather Lawrence Lim Peck Beng (left), 58, at the State Courts on Feb 11, 2020. They are claiming trial for causing the death of Shawn Ignatius Rodrigues, 26.
SINGAPORE — He was apparently fed up with being harassed by his church friend, so Ryan Xavier Tay Seet Choong and his stepfather took matters into their hands to clobber the other man at a block of flats in Yishun.
Their assault was allegedly so violent that the friend eventually died from his injuries at the scene.
Both the accused are now charged with causing grievous hurt to Shawn Ignatius Rodrigues, then 26, on July 9, 2016.
Tay, now 24, and Lawrence Lim Peck Beng, now 58, began standing trial in court on Tuesday (Feb 11).
Tay, then a full-time national serviceman (NSF), is accused of stamping on Rodrigues’ shoulder, punching his face and head numerous times, forcefully pushing his face to the ground and pressing his knee on Rodrigues’ back for about 20 minutes.
This allegedly led to Rodrigues — who was also an NSF at the time — dying from traumatic asphyxia with head injury.
Read also: Accused of bashing girlfriend, doctor claims his alcoholism causes blackouts and he doesn’t recall assault
Lim, a retiree, is contesting his charge of abetting Tay by sitting on Rodrigues’ buttocks and holding his legs.
Court documents stated that Tay also allegedly fractured Rodrigues’ nose and eye socket during the assault.
Tay is represented by lawyer Peter Low from Peter Low & Choo, while Lim is represented by Mr Ang Sin Teck from Belinda Ang Tang & Partners.
In past media reports, Tay’s sister claimed that Rodrigues had been stalking their family for more than two years before the incident.
After Tay was arrested, the police said that his mother had filed four reports against Rodrigues between April 2015 and March 2016.
Rodrigues had also made reports against Tay — once in June 2015, after Tay purportedly assaulted him earlier. However, Rodrigues said that he did not want to pursue the matter.
Read also: Educator jailed for punching man after spat over racist remarks
The police had also advised Tay’s family to file a magistrate's complaint against Rodrigues. Both parties attended mediation sessions between February and May 2016 at the Community Court.
FAINT PULSE AT WRIST, NONE AT NECK
On Tuesday, the court heard testimony from three police officers who were called to the scene the day Rodrigues died.
All three told the court that when they got there — the fifth floor staircase landing of Block 279, Yishun Street 22 — Rodrigues was tied up with raffia string and lying face-down, with blood on his face.
His legs were crossed and his ankles were bound together with pink raffia string, they testified.
Another piece of white string was tied to his right hand, then tied to the pink string around his legs.
This caused his knees to be bent with his feet in the air, the officers said.
Staff Sergeant Lau Ji Xiang said that he saw Lim sitting on Rodrigues’ buttock area when he first arrived, with Tay standing close by. Both Tay and his stepfather were not wearing any shirts then.
Another officer — Senior Staff Sergeant Lim Jun He — said that he arrived shortly afterwards and spoke to Tay and Lim, who told him that Rodrigues had visited him four times that day. Lim also showed the officer some police reports.
Senior Staff Sergeant Lim then checked Rodrigues’ pulse and felt a faint one at his wrist, but none at his neck.*
Singapore Civil Defence Force paramedics arrived and pronounced Rodrigues dead at about 8.30pm.
Tay was arrested shortly after for causing his death in a rash act, and taken to the Police Cantonment Complex.
‘HE TOUCHED MY MOTHER’
Three clips from Senior Staff Sergeant Lim’s body-worn camera were played in court, showing the officer interviewing Lim and Tay in a mix of English, Mandarin, Hokkien and Malay at the scene.
As the officer questioned Tay about being allegedly harassed by Rodrigues, Tay said that he had told Rodrigues he would “really kill him because he touched my mother”.
One of the police reports that Tay’s mother made against Rodrigues was for molesting her. The other three reports that she made were for Rodrigues allegedly turning up at Tay’s home and causing a nuisance, before being asked to leave by his family.
At one point as the camera footage played, a neighbour — identified in court as Mr Ur Kok Seng — interjected to say that he had provided some of the raffia string, and that another neighbour living on the 12th floor of the block helped to tie Rodrigues up.
Tay also said in Mandarin that he had “smashed” Rodrigues onto the ground as he “kept wanting to catch me”, which resulted in a bloody nose.
The trial continues on Wednesday with Mr Ur and three other neighbours set to take the stand.
If convicted of causing grievous hurt, Lim and Tay could each be jailed up to 10 years.
Offenders can also be fined or caned, but those above 50 years old cannot be caned by law.
https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/two-men-trial-tying-nsf-raffia-string-beating-him-death-yishun
Christianity is a fake religion lah.
