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http://tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,203966,00.html?
LAWYER: THE ACCUSED CAN...
BARELY REACH TOP OF HIS HEAD
1.8m-tall victim claims 1.6m-tall accused slashed him on head
By Andre Yeo
June 04, 2009
HURT: Mr Mohd Rizal got superficial cuts from the confrontation.
The main difference in this Singapore version: David is accused of being the bad guy.
IT WAS a case of David versus Goliath.
And Goliath the victim.
Yesterday, in the Subordinate Courts, Goliath claimed that David was so strong and violent that he smashed Goliath's weapon to pieces.
David's weapon of choice? No, not a slingshot, but a chopper.
And, it seemed, the reason for the fight was a woman.
Ker Ah Tee, 45, a technician, stands at about 1.6m tall.
On 21 Jun last year, he allegedly used a chopper to attack Mr Mohd Rizal Abdullah, 54, who towers over him at 1.8m.
Yesterday was the start of Ker's four-day trial for allegedly voluntarily causing hurt.
Mr Mohd Rizal was the only witness to take the stand yesterday as he gave his account of what allegedly happened at the void deck of Ker's flat in Pasir Ris Drive 1 at 12.20am that day.
Ker was divorced from his wife, Madam Shirley Ee, in 2007 but both continued to live in the same flat with their three children.
Shouting
ACCUSED: Ker Ah Tee allegedly swung a chopper with a 30cm-long blade at Mr Mohd Rizal. TNP PICTURES: GAVIN FOO
Last June, they were in the process of selling their flat when Mr Mohd Rizal walked Madam Ee home on 20Jun after 11pm.
He told Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Isaac Tan that Madam Ee had called him that night to say that she had problems.
Mr Mohd Rizal, who is married and also lives in Pasir Ris, agreed to meet her at Pasir Ris Central. After he bought a can of beer, they took a slow walk to her flat. He claimed that when she went up to her flat, he heard someone shouting at him from above: 'Don't run!'
He said when he looked up, he saw Ker standing between the staircase landings of the third and fourth storeys.
Mr Mohd Rizal said: 'The next minute, I saw him with the chopper in his hands coming down the last flight of the staircase.
'He looked very disturbed and very violent and I called out and said, 'Can you stop it?'
'He looked very angry for reasons unknown to me.'
Mr Mohd Rizal said when he saw Ker with the chopper, he ran to a nearby rubbish centre and picked up a piece of wooden plank, about a metre long, to defend himself with.
He said Ker was swinging the chopper wildly at him as he tried to ward off the blows with the plank.
With each swing of Ker's chopper, which had a 30cm-long blade, Mr Mohd Rizal said he became more vulnerable.
He said that as he blocked the blows, he retreated to the void deck, then the lift lobby until both of them fell into a nearby drain.
TNP ILLUSTRATION: KELVIN CHAN
When Mr Tan asked him how many times he was struck, Mr Mohd Rizal said he couldn't remember but there were many blows.
He said that the plank became smaller as it broke into pieces each time he hit it.
The plank, which had been reduced to three pieces, was submitted in court as evidence, together with the chopper. Mr Mohd Rizal confirmed they were the ones used in the fight.
When Mr Tan asked if Ker had managed to hit his body, Mr Mohd Rizal said, no, just his head.
This prompted District Judge Sarjit Singh to ask: 'So, your head is not (part of) your body?'
Ker, who is out on $8,000 bail, was calm and smiling in the dock as he looked at Mr Mohd Rizal during yesterday's proceedings.
Three policemen and an auxiliary police officer from security management firm AETOS stood behind him.
Mr Mohd Rizal avoided eye contact with Ker and looked ahead as he gave his testimony.
Mr Mohd Rizal claimed Ker had struck him on the head with the chopper, causing him to bleed profusely, which made him feel dizzy.
He said he did not know how long the fight lasted but that it only stopped when Madam Ee ran down to the drain to separate them.
EX-WIFE: Ker Ah Tee's ex-wife, Madam Shirley Ee.
Mr Mohd Rizal then called the police and an ambulance took him to Changi General Hospital where he was found to have suffered superficial cuts.
Ker is denying causing those injuries with the chopper.
His lawyer, Miss Diana Foo, wasted no time in calling Mr Mohd Rizal a liar. She did not hold back her accusations during her cross-examination.
She asked how it was possible that a short man like Ker could hit someone as tall as Mr Mohd Rizal.
Mr Mohd Rizal admitted he was taller and bigger than Ker.
But he said Ker had managed to hit him on the head as he was bending his knees, in a defensive stance, while trying to ward off Ker's blows.
Miss Foo's retort: 'You are not telling the truth.'
When Mr Mohd Rizal stood up to demonstrate how he had bent his knees to match Ker's height, Miss Foo bellowed: 'You are a liar!'
Miss Foo also rubbished his claims that he ran away from Ker and accused him of being the one waiting for Ker with the plank, before attacking him.
Mr Mohd Rizal replied firmly that this was totally untrue.
At one point, Miss Foo said Mr Mohd Rizal had a previous conviction for drink driving and had been jailed for two weeks and disqualified from driving.
He replied that that incident had nothing to do with the current case.
'Outrageous'
Miss Foo also accused him of having designs on Madam Ee the moment Ker introduced her to him in 2003, when Ker ran a drinks stall and he was helping out at his cousin's restaurant at Downtown East in Pasir Ris.
He said he had never held such thoughts and said they were just friends.
Miss Foo again went on the offensive, accusing him of having had sex with Madam Ee.
Outrageous, he said.
Absurd, he repeated, when her attacks would not let up.
On Miss Foo's charges that Madam Ee would spend hours at his flat, he said: 'I don't have such time to spend with anybody.'
Miss Foo submitted as evidence pictures of Mr Mohd Rizal and Madam Ee together at functions and on a trip to Pulau Ubin with her youngest child, a boy.
Mr Mohd Rizal admitted it was him in the photos but said that was not considered a trip.
He said: 'This is in Singapore. This was a bum boat ride. So, there are no holidays.'
The trial continues tomorrow.
The Case
KER faces one charge of voluntarily causing hurt by allegedly using a chopper to hurt Mr Mohd Rizal on his forehead, right cheek and right index finger. If convicted, he could be jailed for up to seven years, fined or caned.
Heard in court
YESTERDAY'S proceedings saw witness Mohd Rizal having some interesting exchanges with the DPP and defence counsel, including one point when he seemed to forget that he's married.
No...Yes, I'm married
DPP Tan: Were you also married on 21 Jun 2008?
Mr Mohd Rizal: No.
DPP Tan: 21 Jun 2008, were you married then?'
Mr Mohd: Oh, I was.
Not interested
Miss Foo: I put to you that soon after the accused (Ker) introduced his wife to you, you started to get interested in her.
Mr Mohd Rizal: I never had such thoughts.
Looks like me
Miss Foo (after submitting photos of Mr Mohd Rizal and Madam Ee together): That's you and Shirley.
Mr Mohd Rizal: Looks like me, but I don't remember this photo.
He hit my head
Miss Foo: Are you saying the accused, being a shorter person, could reach out his hand and hit the top of your head? When he can barely reach the top of your head?
Mr Mohd Rizal: Possible.
LAWYER: THE ACCUSED CAN...
BARELY REACH TOP OF HIS HEAD
1.8m-tall victim claims 1.6m-tall accused slashed him on head
By Andre Yeo
June 04, 2009
HURT: Mr Mohd Rizal got superficial cuts from the confrontation.
The main difference in this Singapore version: David is accused of being the bad guy.
IT WAS a case of David versus Goliath.
And Goliath the victim.
Yesterday, in the Subordinate Courts, Goliath claimed that David was so strong and violent that he smashed Goliath's weapon to pieces.
David's weapon of choice? No, not a slingshot, but a chopper.
And, it seemed, the reason for the fight was a woman.
Ker Ah Tee, 45, a technician, stands at about 1.6m tall.
On 21 Jun last year, he allegedly used a chopper to attack Mr Mohd Rizal Abdullah, 54, who towers over him at 1.8m.
Yesterday was the start of Ker's four-day trial for allegedly voluntarily causing hurt.
Mr Mohd Rizal was the only witness to take the stand yesterday as he gave his account of what allegedly happened at the void deck of Ker's flat in Pasir Ris Drive 1 at 12.20am that day.
Ker was divorced from his wife, Madam Shirley Ee, in 2007 but both continued to live in the same flat with their three children.
Shouting
ACCUSED: Ker Ah Tee allegedly swung a chopper with a 30cm-long blade at Mr Mohd Rizal. TNP PICTURES: GAVIN FOO
Last June, they were in the process of selling their flat when Mr Mohd Rizal walked Madam Ee home on 20Jun after 11pm.
He told Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Isaac Tan that Madam Ee had called him that night to say that she had problems.
Mr Mohd Rizal, who is married and also lives in Pasir Ris, agreed to meet her at Pasir Ris Central. After he bought a can of beer, they took a slow walk to her flat. He claimed that when she went up to her flat, he heard someone shouting at him from above: 'Don't run!'
He said when he looked up, he saw Ker standing between the staircase landings of the third and fourth storeys.
Mr Mohd Rizal said: 'The next minute, I saw him with the chopper in his hands coming down the last flight of the staircase.
'He looked very disturbed and very violent and I called out and said, 'Can you stop it?'
'He looked very angry for reasons unknown to me.'
Mr Mohd Rizal said when he saw Ker with the chopper, he ran to a nearby rubbish centre and picked up a piece of wooden plank, about a metre long, to defend himself with.
He said Ker was swinging the chopper wildly at him as he tried to ward off the blows with the plank.
With each swing of Ker's chopper, which had a 30cm-long blade, Mr Mohd Rizal said he became more vulnerable.
He said that as he blocked the blows, he retreated to the void deck, then the lift lobby until both of them fell into a nearby drain.
TNP ILLUSTRATION: KELVIN CHAN
When Mr Tan asked him how many times he was struck, Mr Mohd Rizal said he couldn't remember but there were many blows.
He said that the plank became smaller as it broke into pieces each time he hit it.
The plank, which had been reduced to three pieces, was submitted in court as evidence, together with the chopper. Mr Mohd Rizal confirmed they were the ones used in the fight.
When Mr Tan asked if Ker had managed to hit his body, Mr Mohd Rizal said, no, just his head.
This prompted District Judge Sarjit Singh to ask: 'So, your head is not (part of) your body?'
Ker, who is out on $8,000 bail, was calm and smiling in the dock as he looked at Mr Mohd Rizal during yesterday's proceedings.
Three policemen and an auxiliary police officer from security management firm AETOS stood behind him.
Mr Mohd Rizal avoided eye contact with Ker and looked ahead as he gave his testimony.
Mr Mohd Rizal claimed Ker had struck him on the head with the chopper, causing him to bleed profusely, which made him feel dizzy.
He said he did not know how long the fight lasted but that it only stopped when Madam Ee ran down to the drain to separate them.
EX-WIFE: Ker Ah Tee's ex-wife, Madam Shirley Ee.
Mr Mohd Rizal then called the police and an ambulance took him to Changi General Hospital where he was found to have suffered superficial cuts.
Ker is denying causing those injuries with the chopper.
His lawyer, Miss Diana Foo, wasted no time in calling Mr Mohd Rizal a liar. She did not hold back her accusations during her cross-examination.
She asked how it was possible that a short man like Ker could hit someone as tall as Mr Mohd Rizal.
Mr Mohd Rizal admitted he was taller and bigger than Ker.
But he said Ker had managed to hit him on the head as he was bending his knees, in a defensive stance, while trying to ward off Ker's blows.
Miss Foo's retort: 'You are not telling the truth.'
When Mr Mohd Rizal stood up to demonstrate how he had bent his knees to match Ker's height, Miss Foo bellowed: 'You are a liar!'
Miss Foo also rubbished his claims that he ran away from Ker and accused him of being the one waiting for Ker with the plank, before attacking him.
Mr Mohd Rizal replied firmly that this was totally untrue.
At one point, Miss Foo said Mr Mohd Rizal had a previous conviction for drink driving and had been jailed for two weeks and disqualified from driving.
He replied that that incident had nothing to do with the current case.
'Outrageous'
Miss Foo also accused him of having designs on Madam Ee the moment Ker introduced her to him in 2003, when Ker ran a drinks stall and he was helping out at his cousin's restaurant at Downtown East in Pasir Ris.
He said he had never held such thoughts and said they were just friends.
Miss Foo again went on the offensive, accusing him of having had sex with Madam Ee.
Outrageous, he said.
Absurd, he repeated, when her attacks would not let up.
On Miss Foo's charges that Madam Ee would spend hours at his flat, he said: 'I don't have such time to spend with anybody.'
Miss Foo submitted as evidence pictures of Mr Mohd Rizal and Madam Ee together at functions and on a trip to Pulau Ubin with her youngest child, a boy.
Mr Mohd Rizal admitted it was him in the photos but said that was not considered a trip.
He said: 'This is in Singapore. This was a bum boat ride. So, there are no holidays.'
The trial continues tomorrow.
The Case
KER faces one charge of voluntarily causing hurt by allegedly using a chopper to hurt Mr Mohd Rizal on his forehead, right cheek and right index finger. If convicted, he could be jailed for up to seven years, fined or caned.
Heard in court
YESTERDAY'S proceedings saw witness Mohd Rizal having some interesting exchanges with the DPP and defence counsel, including one point when he seemed to forget that he's married.
No...Yes, I'm married
DPP Tan: Were you also married on 21 Jun 2008?
Mr Mohd Rizal: No.
DPP Tan: 21 Jun 2008, were you married then?'
Mr Mohd: Oh, I was.
Not interested
Miss Foo: I put to you that soon after the accused (Ker) introduced his wife to you, you started to get interested in her.
Mr Mohd Rizal: I never had such thoughts.
Looks like me
Miss Foo (after submitting photos of Mr Mohd Rizal and Madam Ee together): That's you and Shirley.
Mr Mohd Rizal: Looks like me, but I don't remember this photo.
He hit my head
Miss Foo: Are you saying the accused, being a shorter person, could reach out his hand and hit the top of your head? When he can barely reach the top of your head?
Mr Mohd Rizal: Possible.
