An Indian construction worker was left for dead following a savage attack during a robbery perpetrated by a fellow Indian construction worker two years ago.
In court yesterday, 23-year-old Periyasamy Devarajan, pleaded guilty to culpable homicide for assaulting 31-year-old Raju Arviazhagen, The New Paper reports.
The decaying body of Arviazhagen was found under a secluded section of the Kampong Java flyover on Feb 10, 2012. Two days earlier, Devarajan and Arviazhagen were merely strangers who had come together to look for Raju’s misplaced wallet.
On Feb 7, during Thaipusam, Devarajan met up with his brother at 7:40pm near Tekka market for a drink. After he and his brother parted ways at 11:30pm, Devarajan headed towards a football field Little India MRT station.
On his way, Devarajan found Arviazhagen’s misplaced wallet. Before discarding the wallet, Devarajan took S$20 and an ez-link card.
On the same day, Arviazhagen left for Little India for drinks at 9:20pm. A few hours later past midnight, he appeared to be intoxicated. His friend escorted him to Dorset Road where he entered a taxi.
Not before long, Arviazhagen noticed that his wallet was missing and alighted the taxi to return to look for it.
Arviazhagen encountered Devarajan and asked if he had come across a black wallet. Devarajan said yes, leading Arviazhagen to the flyover.
Tanglin Police Divisional Headquarters provided CCTV footage, depicting the two walking towards the flyover at 2:32am.
Upon reaching the flyover, Devarajan attacked his victim’s head and face with a 5cm rock and tree branch about the length of a baseball face. As Arviazhagen was bleeding, the attaker carried on the assault by clubbing him using three concrete slabs weighing between 10.5kg and 13.8kg.
As Arviazhagen laid helplessly, Devarajan went through his pockets and left with Raju’s mobile phone.
CCTV footage from Tanglin HQ showed Devarajan hurriedly fleeing in the opposite direction.
Public Prosecutor April Phang described the ruthless assault, and said “(Arviazhagen’s) last moment must have been of terror and pain in the dead of the night…”
By the time Arviazhagen’s body was found, the decomposition process had begun. He had died from blunt force trauma to the head, an autopsy revealed.
At the time of his arrest, Devarajan was at Serangoon Plaza on Feb 12 and had Arviazhagen’s ez-link card and mobile phone on him.
Throughout the course of investigation, he was unreasonably hostile, demanding to be relieved of his restraints at the scene of the crime. In a police van, he kicked the investigating officer and threatened to harm himself. He also accused police officers for assaulting him. Additionally, he threatened a psychiatrist during his assessment.
In response, defence lawyers Sunil Sudheesan and Diana Ngiam claimed that Devarajan has low brain-function and “mild mental retardation to borderline level”, according to the psychiatrist report. He was also facing difficulties back home in India.
Justice Tay Yong Kwang slapped Devarajan with 16 years jail and 12 strokes of the cane. In addition, a charge for criminal breech of trust and a charge for attacking a public servant were taken into account.
Photo: Google Maps screengrab
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