Updated: 12/02/2013 14:06 | By Channel NewsAsia
Man jailed six months for fracturing neighbour's skull
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/BThCcAfKfI4?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>
SINGAPORE: An unemployed man who fractured his neighbour's skull with a metal rod was sentenced to six months' jail.
51-year-old Sut Yew Khun had used a T-shaped metal rod to hit 61-year-old Goh Sam Choon in mid-February this year.
The incident happened at the void deck of a block of flats at Jurong West Central 1.
Before that, there was already bad blood between the neighbours over a remark that Mr Goh's grandson made six years ago.
The court heard that the neighbours never communicated with one another prior to the attack.
But on the day leading to the offence, the two neighbours were staring at each other.
When Mr Goh was on his way home from buying lunch, Sut approached him and a fight ensued.
Seeing the metal rod he uses to stabilise his bicycle nearby, Sut grabbed it and used it on Mr Goh.
In mitigation, his lawyer said Sut had quit his job in 1996 to look after his mother, who is ill.
The court was also told how there was no pre-meditation as Sut was not armed with the metal rod from the first instance.
The defence pointed out that the fight was sudden.
But the prosecution argued that Sut had escalated the level of violence by using the metal rod.
In sentencing, District Judge Low Wee Ping said he did not agree with the defence's argument that Sut used the metal rod to protect himself.
The judge said the accused simply used the rod to hit another.
For causing hurt with a weapon, a person could be jailed up to seven years, fined and caned. - CNA/xq
