KICKED at void deck
PUNCHED at lift landing
DUMPED at bus stop
11 boys arrested for allegedly doing this to Sec 3 schoolmate
By Faith Teo and Tan Mae Lynn
November 04, 2005
THE boy didn't stand a chance.
He was defenceless against 11 of his schoolmates who allegedly
ganged up on him.
Paul (not his real name) was allegedly beaten up at the void deck
of a block flats near his school, then taken to the fourth storey
and allegedly beaten up again.
Finally he was left at a bus stop near his school.
His alleged attackers were all arrested and are now out on police
bail.
It is believed that the 15-year-old got into an argument with one
of his schoolmates under an HDB block in Choa Chu Kang last
Thursday afternoon.
1. Paul allegedly argues with friend at void deck outside school.
Peter pushes and kicks him. Other friends allegedly join in.
All of them, including Paul, are Secondary 3 students.
On of the alleged attackers, Peter (not his real name), claimed
that Paul behaved strangely and had provoked the group last week by
using his camera phone to take pictures of them.
'I didn't know him well, although he was from the same school. But
on Thursday, I was outside school after classes and waiting for two
friends to go play basketball when I saw him in an argument with my
friend.
'I was kaypoh (curious) and just stared at them. Suddenly he
scolded me in Hokkien,' Peter alleged, adding that he did not
understand what the boy was saying.
Incensed, Peter went up to the boy and pushed him. The boy landed
on the floor, and Peter said he then kicked him once.
Some of Peter's friends allegedly joined in, raining blows on the
boy. A few then allegedly took him into a lift and continued
beating him on the fourth floor.
SEARCHED FLOOR TO FLOOR
2. He is allegedly taken into life to 4th storey to be beaten
again. Other boys follow soon after.
'The rest of us didn't know where they were, so we looked for them
from floor to floor and found them at the fourth floor,' claimed
Peter.
'After that, they took him to a bus stop, and we left.'
A passer-by who saw the victim called the police. By the time
police arrived, the group of 11 had left. Police then called for an
ambulance.
Paul suffered bruises on his back and cuts on his face.
SCDF spokesman Captain Cera Tan said that when paramedics reached
the scene, they found Paul at a bus stop. The boy was conscious,
and was treated for a bleeding cut behind his left ear.
Cpt Tan added that Paul refused the paramedic's offer to take him
to hospital for further checks.
Based on initial investigations and interviews, police managed to
identify the 11 boys who were allegedly involved in the
fight.
3. Paul is left at the bus stop, where he sends an SMS to his
discipline mistress. He refuses paramedics' offer to go to
hospital
By noon the following day, police picked up all 11 suspects, aged
15 to 17, at their school, and took them to Jurong Police Division
for questioning.
They were held in custody until 2pm on Saturday, when they were
released on bail.
Investigations into the beating are still on, police spokesman
Karen Chen said.
The vice-principal of the boys' secondary school said Paul had sent
an SMS to the discipline mistress from the bus stop after he was
attacked.
By the time she reached the scene, police were already attending to
the boy.
The vice-principal said: 'It is something that happened outside of
school, although the source of contention may have started within
school.'
She added that Paul did not have previous disciplinary problems.
But on the day of the fight, he was supposed to have had a
counselling session with the discipline mistress over a complaint
made about his manner of communicating with others.
DISCIPLINARY PROBLEMS
She did say, however, that some of the alleged attackers have had
disciplinary problems before, but declined to reveal the nature of
these problems.
'As police investigations are ongoing, we will assist them in
whatever way we can. We are also in contact with the parents of all
the boys, and will do whatever is necessary and in line with our
procedures, through detention and compulsory counselling,' she
said.
Under the law, those who are found guilty of gang fights, which can
be deemed as rioting, can be jailed up to five years and caned if
they are tried as adults.
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Arrests of fighting youths doubled
POLICE nabbed 512 youngsters for rioting last year - up from just
250 in 2001.
In the first half of this year, overall juvenile arrests have gone
up to 2,428 with shoplifting and handphone thefts the most worrying
trends.
A Subordinate Courts study published recently showed more
youngsters are now committing robbery and snatch thefts.
Nearly one in five arrests in such cases in the last two years
involved under 21s. Last year, 4,716 people under 21 were arrested,
slightly lower than the 4,918 in 2003.
Almost half those arrested were below 16, and about 80 per cent of
them were students aged 14 to 15.
