Father-son duo assaulted cyclist, causing loss of teeth and facial fractures

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
Dec 28, 2021

A man and his father rained blows on a cyclist, causing injuries including multiple facial fractures and the loss of four teeth, after the victim bumped into his younger attacker.

Jasmi Abu Kasim and his father, Abu Kasim Abdullah, ganged up against Mr Azman Mahmat, 48, on April 7 last year.

On Monday (Dec 27), the two assailants were each sentenced to six months' jail after they pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing grievous hurt to their victim.

Abu Kasim, 65, was also ordered to pay nearly $970 in compensation to Mr Azman.

The court heard that Jasmi, 39, assaulted the cyclist while he was under a remission order.

Jasmi was earlier released from jail in 2018 and as part of the order, he was supposed to keep out of trouble from Oct 24 that year to June 12 last year.

For breaching it when he assaulted Mr Azman, Jasmi was also ordered to spend an additional 12 days behind bars.

Shortly before the attack, Mr Azman was cycling on a pavement in Jalan Masjid near Changi Road at around 4.30pm on April 7 last year when he bumped into Jasmi.

The court heard that Jasmi initially ignored the cyclist.

Mr Azman, however, inched his bicycle toward Jasmi to strike up a conversation with him and a dispute soon broke out between the two men.

Abu Kasim, who was nearby, then walked up to Mr Azman and punched the back of his head once, causing him to fall off his bicycle.

The cyclist was lying on the ground when the pair rained blows on him until a passer-by intervened.

The police were alerted and Mr Azman was taken to Changi General Hospital, where he was hospitalised for two days.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Pearly Ang urged the court on Monday to sentence each attacker to between seven and eight months' jail.

Stressing that the loss of adult teeth is permanent, she said: "The victim had not behaved aggressively in a manner which would constitute a threat."

The two attackers are now out on bail of $15,000 each and they will begin serving their sentences on Jan 24.

For voluntarily causing grievous hurt, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined or caned.

Abu Kasim cannot be caned as he is over 50 years old.