Updated: 09/24/2013 17:30 | By Channel NewsAsia
Mistaken identity leads to attack, lands man in jail
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/SXJ0DOLwrZE?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>
SINGAPORE: Seeing his tattooed legs, sales engineer Ng Hwa Lee assumed that the young man was a loanshark runner and proceeded to attack him.
Ng, 34, was jailed seven months by a district court on Tuesday for the attack.
The court heard that around 10pm on April 24, 2011, Ng was at his uncle's flat in Woodlands Drive to mark his grandmother's death anniversary.
Both men were drinking alcohol.
While drinking, Ng received a call informing him that a loanshark was harassing his second uncle at his flat, which was also at Woodlands Drive.
Fearing for his second uncle's safety, Ng left to go to the uncle's house.
When he arrived at the lift lobby, he saw the victim -- 22-year-old Sim Beng Hui -- coming out of the lift with his girlfriend.
Mr Sim was holding two motorcycle helmets.
Seeing that Mr Sim's legs were tattooed, Ng assumed he was a loanshark runner and confronted him in an aggressive manner.
He then blocked Mr Sim's way and suddenly punched him on the left side of his face.
As Mr Sim swung the helmets at Ng to defend himself, Ng took a 20-centimetre-long kitchen knife from his back pocket and slashed Mr Sim on his left hand.
The slash wound left Mr Sim's hand bleeding profusely and was severe enough that the bones and tendons became visible.
Seeing the knife, Mr Sim tried to flee and Ng gave chase.
Mr Sim eventually managed to shake Ng off his tail.
Investigations revealed that Ng only realised he had attacked the wrong person when he reached his second uncle's home and was told that the loanshark had left a long time ago.
Ng became scared and threw the knife away.
He was arrested in December last year when he was stopped at a police roadblock and discovered to be a wanted man.
In mitigation, Ng's lawyer Kelvin Lim told the court that his client was genuinely remorseful and had offered to pay the victim S$1,720 for his medical expenses -- which he had done through the investigation officer.
Mr Lim added that Ng's judgment was clouded at the time as he was drunk and he had made a wrong assumption.
Ng could have been jailed up to seven years, fined or caned. - CNA/gn
