Orchard Road fatal brawl: Man charged for having bread knife at Concorde Hotel

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
Sept 6, 2023

A man was hauled to a district court on Tuesday for allegedly having a bread knife in his possession at the Concorde Hotel and Shopping Mall where a fatal brawl took place at around 6am on Aug 20.

Zurfaqar Musli, 32, was charged with one count of being in possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

His case has been adjourned to Sept 27. If convicted of the offence, he can be jailed for up to three years and receive at least six strokes of the cane.

To date, more than 10 people have been charged over their alleged roles in the fatal brawl in Orchard Road.

One of them, Mohamad Zachary Danial Mohamad Azhar, 22, was on Aug 30 charged with one count each of being in possession of three bread knives in a public place and abetting a man identified as Muhammad Shahrulnizam Osman to commit assault with such a weapon.

Zachary allegedly handed a bread knife to Shahrulnizam shortly before 5am on Aug 20.

On Monday, AR Ridhwan Abdul Rahim, 21,was charged with one count of causing evidence to disappear with the intention of screening Shahrulnizam from legal punishment.

Ridhwan is accused of taking a bread knife from Shahrulnizam, 30, before hiding it in a locker at a nightspot called Club Rumours at Concorde Hotel and Shopping Mall.

Ridhwan is said to have done so despite having reason to believe that Shahrulnizam had allegedly used it to attack another person.

Shahrulnizam was charged in August with one count of voluntarily causing hurt to another man with a dangerous weapon.

He allegedly used a bread knife with a 30cm blade to slash Visnu Suriamurthi, injuring him in the chest.

Visnu, 27, was purportedly part of a group that caused hurt to Mr Mohammad Isrrat Mohd Ismail, who was taken to hospital where he died.

Visnu and other alleged members of the group are accused of offences including rioting while armed with a deadly weapon.

One of them, Asvain Pachan Pillai Sukumaran, 29, is accused of killing Mr Isrrat and is facing a murder charge.

The cases involving all of the alleged offenders are still pending.

If convicted of murder, Asvain would face the death penalty.

Shahrulnizam could be jailed for up to seven years, fined or caned, or receive any combination of such punishments if he is convicted of voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon.

Those convicted of rioting with a deadly weapon could be jailed for up to 10 years and caned.