A 38-year old owner of a construction business, Nagasaravanan Uttamasegeran Pillai, was sentenced to five and a half months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to an offence of voluntarily causing hurt by a dangerous weapon.
On 27 June 2014, a dispute arose between Nagasaravanan and two others at the carpark of a shopping mall along Serangoon Road.
During the fight which broke out as a result of the dispute, Nagasaravanan took out a knife and slashed one of the victims on his left forearm and right thigh.
After slashing the victim, Nagasaravanan drove away from the scene and discarded the knife.
While the Prosecution argued for a deterrent sentence of at least three months’ imprisonment to be imposed as the offence occurred in a public space in broad daylight, Nagasaravanan’s criminal defence lawyer said in his mitigation plea that he was not looking for trouble and he had intended to settle the dispute cordially before he acted violently after becoming agitated and annoyed by the victim, and the lawyer also highlighted the fact that the victim only suffered minor injuries and that he had cooperated with the authorities during the investigations.
In imposing sentence, the Court nevertheless found that Nagasaravanan’s violent response was excessive and the victim’s injuries were not insignificant.
More information on the case may be found here.