The following article was taken from the New Paper, about a
youth being attacked by some other youth/s with a 30cm machete, and
almost lost his left hand. In it, I read that a cab which the
desperately injured boy flagged down, denied him service by saying
he's changing shift when he can clearly see the boy's injury.
I ask, what kind of society is Singapore becoming??? What kind of
"Public" transport do we have???
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WHEN two youths attacked him and his three friends, Siva's first
reaction was to run - and he did.
While they were fleeing, one of his horrified friends asked him:
'Where is your left hand?'
Siva (not his real name), 17, looked down and was shocked that his
hand was indeed missing.
It had been chopped off at the wrist. Yet, he had felt no
pain.
--Dominic Ying
Said Siva, a right-hander: 'All that was left was the bone sticking
out.
'My skin and flesh were hanging downwards and my left arm was
covered in blood.
'I told my friends to go and look for my hand. I then held my arm
up and pressed the stump tightly to try to stop the
bleeding.'
He said the attack happened suddenly, soon after a staring incident
at a traffic junction near Blk 421, Jurong West Ave 1 at about 2pm
last Wednesday .
He and his friends were viciously attacked by a youth wielding a
30cm-long machete.
One of the blows struck Siva so hard that it sliced through his
bone.
RE-ATTACHED
But the good news is that his severed hand was found later, and
Siva underwent a 2-hour-long emergency operation last week to
re-attach it.
One of Siva's friends required 16 stitches after being slashed on
the back of his head and on his back.
Police spokesman Stanley Norbert said police are making all efforts
to hunt the assailants down.
The New Paper spoke to Siva and his parents at his hospital bedside
yesterday.
His parents requested we not use their son's real name because his
attackers are still at large.
Recalling the horrific incident, Siva claimed that he and his
friends were walking along the road when he noticed two boys in
their late teens staring at them.
He said they hurled vulgarities at his group.
One of them then pulled out a long weapon from his black jacket and
charged at him.
'It happened so fast. I thought he had pulled out a metal
pole.
'He was aiming for my head so I naturally raised my left arm to
block the blow,' said Siva.
After that, he and his friends fled in the same direction.
The attackers chased one of his friends and slashed him from
behind.
At that time, Siva did not realise what had happened to his
hand.
'I just ran after the attack, not knowing that my hand had been
chopped off,' he said.
'I didn't feel the pain at all.'
ALERTED BY FRIEND
It was only when his friend, Adam, yelled after seeing his bloodied
stump that Siva realised how badly injured he was.
Said Adam: 'My mind went blank and I couldn't believe what I was
seeing.
'I went back along the path we had taken but couldn't find the
hand,' he said.
He guessed that the blow was so hard that the severed hand flew
'quite far'.
Siva, who is waiting for his N-level results, said he then started
to feel giddy and collapsed by the side of the road.
'We decided to go to a doctor first because I was bleeding very
badly,' said Siva.
But more drama was to follow.
A taxi they hailed drove off after the cabby was told that Siva's
hand had been chopped off.
The driver told them he was changing shift and could not pick them
up, Siva said.
'I was in a panic. As I held the stump, I could feel my skin and
flesh slipping down because there was nothing to hold them
together,' he said.
'And I kept thinking about my missing hand. Where could be it be? I
also started to feel the pain.'
They managed to stop a passing car a few minutes later.
The driver drove them to the nearby Jurong Polyclinic.
On hearing what happened, a doctor rushed to the scene and searched
for the hand.
By a stroke of good luck, the doctor spotted it in the bushes and
returned about 10 minutes later with the hand in a box packed with
ice.
Siva was then taken to the National University Hospital.
There, he underwent a 10-hour operation that night to re-attach his
hand.
Speaking to The New Paper yesterday, Siva, whose left arm was
heavily bandaged, said he can now wriggle his left fingers.
'I don't have any feeling in my hand at all. But doctors said that
I should be making a full recovery,' he said.
'I was still groggy after the operation, but I turned to look at my
left hand and was so happy to see it was back where it's supposed
to be.'
Siva's father is hoping the attackers will be caught soon.
'They are so daring to do this in broad daylight. I want to know
why they did this to my son,' he said.
On the operation, he said: 'It's just amazing how the doctors
managed to re-attach his hand.'
Siva still gets the shivers when talking about the incident.
'I'm so thankful that I got my left hand back.
'In my panic, I forgot to thank the doctor who found it and ask his
name.'
