On top of a 25-month jail term, a man was sentenced to three strokes of the cane after it was revealed that he played a ‘ringleader’ role in the riots that rocked Little India last year.
42-year-old Indian national Samiyappan Sellathurai was previously sentenced to 25 months imprisonment last year for his involvement in the riot. The additional sentence was meted out in court today when the judge concluded that he had actively instigated the crowd during the riots, TODAY reports.
Deputy public prosecutor Sellakumaran Sellamuthoo maintained that the Samiyappan had fanned the flames of chaos through actions such as getting the crowd to dislodge concrete slabs from the ground and throwing its broken pieces at public vehicles and public servants. CCTV footage revealed that he even lead the crowd to carry a metal rack and rammed it against a side wall of Little India MRT station.
The presiding judge Justice Chan remarked that Samiyappan was lucky that the prosecution had not pushed for a longer prison term.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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