Man hit co-worker's head with mallet for appearing nude at farm
SINGAPORE — Angered with a co-worker who kept appearing nude at a fish farm where they worked, a man hit his colleague on the head with a mallet.
Saw Paing Soe Thu, 35, was jailed for a year and a month on Tuesday (6 July), after he pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon.
The Myanmar national and his 38-year-old compatriot Aung Win Htut worked on a fish farm located at sea near Lim Chu Kang.
About one to two months before the incident, Aung Win Htut walked around the fish farm nude, prompting Saw Paing Soe Thu to tell him not to walk around naked.
Things came to a head on 9 April this year, when Aung Win Htut emerged from a shower without clothes at around 6pm. Saw Paing Soe Thu was cooking when his co-worker walked to the cooking area to turn off the fire heating his kettle.
Saw Paing Soe Thu was cooking on the stove when Aung Win Htut appeared behind him naked. Uneasy, Saw Paing Soe Thu scolded his co-worker and was angry at his colleague for being in the nude.
A while later, Saw Paing Soe Thu consumed half a bottle of rice wine. At about 9.40pm that day, the intoxicated man felt furious, as his co-worker repeatedly appeared naked. He took a mallet – usually used to kill fishes – from the storage area and approached Aung Win Htut, who was talking on the phone.
Saw Paing Soe Thu then hit the victim on the forehead with the mallet. The victim fell to the ground and bled from his forehead. He contacted the owner of the fish farm for help and the latter called the police located at the Police Coast Guard at Lim Chu Kang Regional Base.
The victim was brought to Lim Chu Kang jetty with the help of workers from a nearby fish farm and an ambulance conveyed him to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital. Aung Win Htut sustained a forehead laceration and a sinus bone fracture for which he underwent surgery. He was given hospitalisation leave from 9 April to 2 May.
Saw Paing Soe Thu was arrested the next day, and his blood sample was analysed to have 48mg of ethanol per 100ml of blood. His urine sample was found to have 116mg of ethanol per 100ml of urine.
For voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon, he could have been jailed up to seven years, or fined, or caned, or with any combination of the punishments.
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