“My shirt and pants were soaked in blood,” said Tanglin Halt Food Centre hawker Mr Punnataro Wee after being attacked by a fellow hawker with a wooden pole on Friday (Apr 8).
Mr Wee, 51, was busy setting up his fish soup noodle stall when a 69-year-old man allegedly attacked him from behind. It was reported that the man has a longstanding dispute with Mr Wee.
“I fell to the ground in a daze; I was in shock,” said Mr Wee in a Straits Times report.
Upon regaining his senses, Mr Wee saw his girlfriend trying to dislodge the weapon from the attacker.
“I got up and rushed over to help her. (The attacker fell to the floor and ran off. It was only then I felt the throbbing pain at the back of my head,” said Mr Wee.
He was conveyed to the National University Hospital and warded in the neurosurgical high dependency unity.
Mr Wee suffered a fractured skull needing nine stitches, and fractures on his right wrist and left-hand finger.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the man is known to the victims,” said the police.
The attacker used a one-metre long wooden pole with a rusty screw attached to it.
According to Mr Wee, the dispute started in March 2020. Although the two stall operators began on good terms, they argued over something minor on one occasion.
It was then the fellow hawker picked up a soup ladle and hit Mr Wee on the head, ears and shoulders.
Mr Wee suffered hearing loss in his right ear following the incident. He tried getting compensation of about S$700 for medical bills but dropped the case in January this year.
Instead, Mr Wee transferred his fish soup noodle stall to another part of the food centre.
After reopening the stall on Apr 4, the sudden attack happened a few days later.
“I didn’t see (the man) at all this week. I don’t know why he would attack me, unprovoked, all of a sudden. If he had hit the right spot, I’d probably be dead already,” said Mr Wee.
His girlfriend, Ms Wang Wei, 54, hoped something could have been done to prevent the “traumatising” incident.
The attacker was arrested for voluntarily causing hurt by a dangerous weapon, said the police.
If found guilty, he could be imprisoned for up to seven years, fined, caned or sentenced to a combination of such punishments.
The Singapore Police Force announced that there has been an increase in incidents involving people armed with dangerous weapons and posing a threat to public safety.
On Mar 23, a knife-wielding man was shot dead by police at Bendemeer Road.
It was reported that the 62-year-old man was shot in the chest by the police after refusing to drop his weapon.
On another occasion, a man who was said to be armed with a knife was shouting and looking for someone at Bukit Batok West Avenue 8 on Mar 14.
As police officers were apprehending him, the man threw the knife toward one of the officers, hitting him on the right cheek./TISG
Fight breaks out beside Katong Square, one man with tattoos retrieving weapon to attack
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