Dani Zulastri Mohamad Salim, who is part of a trio of friends who got to know each other while serving their sentences at the informative training centre (RTC), viciously attacked a man with his friends after one of them thought the victim was staring at them.
One of them smashed a glass bottle on the 30-year-old victim’s head as the other two rained punches and kicks on him.
Dani Zulastri Mohamad Salim pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt, and another charge for mischief for tampering with his electronic monitoring tag after he was released from the RTC under a supervision scheme.
He was sentenced on 31 January to 8 months and 3 weeks imprisonment, as well as being ordered to pay the victim, Justin Chua Yong Jie, $269.65 in compensation.
What happened?
Dani met his two RTC friends, Taitus Wong Wei Zhi and Mohamad Amirul Shafi Abdullah to drink alcohol on 20 March 2022 at about 7pm at The Mask Restaurant and Bar along Circular Road.
Another Noor Shah Ryzqa Azman was also with the trio at the time, and they shared a bottle of whiskey before leaving the bar at about 10.30pm.
Wong was carrying the bottle of whiskey with him and drinking from it as they walked around the area, and the four drunk men then ended up near the Riverside Point mall along Merchant Road.
They wanted to buy cigarettes and asked a security guard for directions to a nearby 7-Eleven.
The victim was with his friends nearby drinking at a bar before he left and went to the 7-Eleven by himself, crossing paths with Amirul.
Amirul thought Chua was staring at him and attacked him from behind with Wong, who smashed the whiskey bottle on Chua’s head, resulting in him losing a patch of his hair,
They also rained punches on Chua, who had fallen onto the ground by this point, and Dani Zulastri then ran towards them and joined in the assault after hearing the commotion, kicking Chua.
Ryzwa was watching the attack from afar, before fleeing from the crime scene with the trio, running towards the State Courts.
Chua then went back to the bar while he was bleeding to seek help from his friends, and an ambulance was then called.
He was conveyed to the Singapore General Hospital with cuts to his scalp, diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome and given 17 days of medical leave.
Recap (from victim’s POV)
A 30-year-old man, Chua, was allegedly attacked with a sharp object from behind and ended up needing two surgeries and 20 stitches.
The incident happened on 20 March 2022 at Clark Quay at about 10.30pm, near the Riverside Piazza.
Chua’s girlfriend, Low, said that they were at a friend’s birthday at a restaurant on 20 March, and he had left the restaurant momentarily to buy a drink from a 7-11 store nearby at about 10.30pm.
He was walking towards the 7-11 when he was suddenly hit on the head from behind.
Chua was shocked by the attack from seemingly out of nowhere and also by the blood that was spurting from out of his wound.
He can’t remember if he had turned around to identify the attacker.
Chua walked back to the restaurant after the attack and asked his friends for help, and they then called the ambulance.
Chua’s friend then called her (Low) to tell her about the attack and told her to rush over as he was bleeding a lot.
He was then seen in a video being attended to by paramedics, as his face was seen covered in blood.