SINGAPORE: A 21-year-old man bit off his colleague’s ear after a heated argument, with vulgarities and punches thrown in the scuffle.
Senthilkumar Vishnusakthi, an electrician at Ty Engineering, was sentenced to six months’ jail on Thursday (Jul 3).
He pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt to 31-year-old Nesamani Hariharn.
Both men stayed at Kallang Dormitory.
At about 7pm on Feb 15, Senthilkumar returned to the dorm after drinking three cans of beer.
The victim was seated on his bed, watching a movie with his earpieces on.
When Senthilkumar saw him, he began loudly talking about the victim spying on him and reporting back to their work supervisor about his poor work performance.
He called the victim a “dog” for following him around.
The victim realised that Senthilkumar was speaking poorly about him and grew upset. He walked over to confront him, and the pair began arguing heatedly, exchanging vulgarities.
The victim then turned and walked back towards his bed, but Senthilkumar threw a punch at his back.
The victim spun round and threw a punch of his own, and the pair began exchanging blows.
Senthilkumar managed to get the victim in a bear hug from behind. He grabbed the victim’s face and bit his left ear, tearing off his left earlobe.
Other dorm occupants stepped in to restrain Senthilkumar, while the victim fled. A police report was made and the victim was taken to hospital with torn skin below his eye and a laceration of his left earlobe, with a piece torn off.
He also fractured his right thumb as a result of the scuffle.
The victim was treated for his injuries and given nine days’ hospitalisation leave, but the incident resulted in permanent disfiguration as the earlobe was not restored.
The prosecutor sought six to eight months’ jail, noting that Senthilkumar had been voluntarily intoxicated, which is an aggravating factor.
Defence lawyer Gogulakannan Suppayya said his client was grieving over his late father on that day.
“This of course was not helped by the fact that he decided to help himself emotionally by resorting to alcohol, but on hindsight, he regrets his actions,” said the lawyer.
He added that his client has spent time in remand and reflected on the incident.
“He throws himself at the mercy of this court and asks for the sentence to be backdated,” said the lawyer.
The judge noted that the injury was “relatively serious”. He allowed the jail term to be backdated to February, when Senthilkumar was remanded.
