SINGAPORE - A staring incident sparked off an attack on two 17-year-old secondary students by a gang of youths yesterday. One teen suffered a bruised eye and the other was seriously injured with a stab wound in the back.
The New Paper reported that the two boys, Anand from Raffles Institution (RI) and Don Tan from St Andrew's Secondary School, got into a staring incident with two other boys at a McDonald's outlet around the Potong Pasir area at around 1pm yesterday.
Don told the paper they left without eating as they felt uncomfortable, but the youths followed them back to their block of flats and behaved in an aggressive manner.
Don called his father, who came downstairs and asked the boys to "give him some face". The boys agreed and left.
A resident of Potong Pasir Avenue 1, who gave his name as Mr Chan, said he was at a coffee shop at Block 137 when he heard four teenagers at the next table talking about organising a fight.
Mr Chan said he was shocked later when he was walking back to his flat and saw Anand shouting for help and limping towards a nearby clinic while bleeding profusely and leaving a trail of blood.
He recognised Anand as one of the boys from the coffeeshop. He also recognised Don when he saw Don being interviewed by the police.
When asked about this, Don said after his father confronted the boys and they left, he and Anand went to the coffeeshop to have lunch. The two boys later followed them there to ask them to go to a nearby block to "settle this once and for all".
Don and Anand refused at first, but later agreed.
When they reached Block 122, Don said he was shocked to see a group of youths with knives waiting for them. The gang attacked them and Don escaped with a bruised eye.
He shouted at Anand to run away, but Anand reportedly "stood his ground" and was stabbed in the back by one of the youths.
Anand left a trail of bloody footprints as he limped towards the nearby Parkson Medical Clinic and Surgery at Block 137, where he collapsed.
Madam Eileen Ng, 37, who works at a nearby dessert shop and was attracted to the scene by Anand's shouts for help, said she saw a doctor trying to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to the wound while Anand groaned in pain.
She also said she saw Don call the police.
The police received a call at 4pm and arrived at the scene to find Anand conscious. He was later taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
A block 122 resident, who gave her name as Madam Poon, 45, said she heard that a group of about six youngsters were seen leaving the scene in a taxi and a bus soon after the stabbing.
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