Man who punched stranger he thought was CNB officer and stabbed another with scissors jailed

Samuel Devaraj
The Straits Times
May 9, 2023

Bearing a resentment against the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), Lavan Saravana saw a man at an HDB estate and attacked him, thinking he was from the agency.

About 20 minutes later, he attacked another man, this time using a pair of scissors he had with him.

Lavan, 36, was sentenced to nine months and six weeks’ jail on Monday after pleading guilty to one charge of affray and one count of voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons. He also admitted to two charges for missing urine tests.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kor Zhen Hong said Lavan had consumed about 1 ½ bottles of rice wine on Dec 31, 2022, and was very drunk.

At about 4.35 pm, he was at the sheltered walkway near Block 337 Jurong East Avenue 1 when he spotted Mr Daniel Tan Yeow Boon, 44, whom he assumed was from the CNB and confronted him.

DPP Kor said: “As the accused approached Daniel, the accused suddenly uttered vulgarities at Daniel, and told Daniel, ‘You CNB arh, you think you CNB I scared arh’?”

Soon after, Lavan threw a punch at Mr Tan, who retaliated.

A motorcycle rider who had spotted the fight tried to separate them, but after he rode off, the pair continued fighting for about two minutes before Lavan walked away.

He went to the car park near Block 340 Jurong East Avenue 1 and noticed Mr Tan driving a vehicle. He stood in front of the vehicle in a bid to confront Mr Tan once more.

Eventually, Mr Tan was able to drive away, but as he was doing so, Lavan used a pair of scissors he had with him to slash at the vehicle, causing some scratch marks on one of the doors.

Mr Tan fractured his finger and sustained a bruise on his forehead in the fight and was given 14 days of hospitalisation leave.

After Mr Tan drove off, Lavan was near Block 339 Jurong East Avenue 1 when he noticed Mr Mohammad Faizal Khan Sherin Khan, 47.

Lavan approached Mr Faizal from behind and stabbed him in his back. Mr Faizal turned around and confronted Lavan, who ignored his victim and walked away.

Mr Faizal, who lodged a police report, sustained a 0.5 cm puncture wound on his back and was given two days of medical leave.

DPP Kor asked the court to sentence Lavan to between 8 and 13½ months’ jail, citing his criminal record, which included criminal intimidation convictions in 2012 and 2018 and a conviction for voluntarily causing hurt in 2018.

The prosecutor also noted his high culpability in the attack on Mr Tan.

He said: “This was an unprovoked attack against someone the accused (wrongly) perceived to be a CNB officer. Moreover, during the confrontation, the accused threw the first punch against Daniel.”