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He was beaten up so badly that his own mother could not recognise him in hospital.
Secondary 5 student Lim Chang Ming, 17, was studying for his O-level examinations at the void deck of Block 114 Lengkong Tiga in Kembangan on Thursday night when he was beaten up by a group of "between nine and 12" people near a police post.
His mother, who gave her name only as Mrs Lim, 41, told The New Paper what it was like looking for her son in Changi General Hospital after the attack.
Speaking in Mandarin from her Bedok Reservoir Road flat, she said: "I went to the hospital and I couldn't recognise him because his face was all swollen. I had to call him on the phone and ask him where he was.
"He had to raise his hand before I knew it was him. Do you know how painful it was for me to see him beaten up so badly?"
Mrs Lim, who does administrative work, was so upset that she called Lianhe Wanbao to make public the attack.
"If we don't say anything, these attackers could beat up someone else next time.
"Luckily, they didn't have weapons otherwise my son could have died, and all for nothing," said Mrs Lim, who also has a 15-year-old son.
The attack, which lasted about five minutes, took place where Chang Ming and his friends had been studying for a while - near the Kampong Kembangan Neighbourhood Police Post in the adjacent Block 112.
"It's close to where my friends live, so every night I would go there after eating dinner and study for about four hours before catching the last bus home," said Chang Ming.
The group that attacked him would frequent the same void deck but would be at another stone table.
And there had not been any problem in the past.
Around 7.15pm, Chang Ming was there with his girlfriend, 17-year-old twin brothers Lim Yong Bao and Yong Hang, and ex-schoolmate Jonathan.
Two hours earlier, they had heard that one of their friends, named Ranny, had been beaten up by the other group at the same void deck.
Yong Bao called someone from the group to ask about Ranny.
He claimed the boy admitted that his group had attacked Ranny and asked to meet at a nearby basketball court at 6pm.
Yong Bao said: "They wanted to find Ranny but when they saw he wasn't with us, they left.
"We didn't think of changing our study place because we didn't think they would attack us since we knew this boy. We weren't close but we still considered him a friend."
But when they were back at the void deck, the same boy called Yong Bao and asked for Ranny again.
Yong Bao then passed the phone to his brother, Yong Hang, who suggested that the group settle things with Ranny directly and not involve them.
However, Yong Hang claimed that while he was still on the phone, his friends happened to laugh over something and the boy on the other end heard the laughter and took offence.
By then, the other group was already approaching their table and someone in the group asked Yong Hang what the laughter was all about.
Not laughing at them
Yong Hang said: "We told him that we were not laughing at them, but he went to Chang Ming next and smacked him on the back of his head, asking the same question."
Chang Ming told The New Paper: "I said I laughed, because it's the truth, we all did. But then he slapped me - harder than the first time - and that really got me agitated so I stood up to confront him.
"Suddenly someone grabbed me from the back and another guy pushed me towards the pillar where they just surrounded me and attacked me.
"It was all upper cuts. I blocked as many as I could but there were so many of them. My girlfriend, who saw the whole thing, was shocked because there were six of them beating me."
When Yong Hang and the others tried to stop the attackers, they themselves were beaten up by the other members of the group.
Yong Han said: "They pushed me and I fell to the ground, where they kept kicking my head like it was a soccer ball."
Although there were other people at the void deck, no one was able to stop the scuffle.
Yong Bao said: "I really could not believe it was happening before my eyes. Looking back, I should not have called to ask about Ranny in the first place."
A police spokesman said they have arrested four people aged between 16 and 18 yesterday in connection with the case and that investigations are on.
Mrs Lim said: "I really hope the authorities will look into such gang beatings because, like the Pasir Ris case where someone died, this could easily happen again."
Despite the injuries, all of them have continued sitting the on-going O levels.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
