SINGAPORE — A 38-year-old man who wielded a Samurai sword and swung it at cars at Buangkok Crescent in March 2022m was sentenced to 18 months in jail and six strokes of the cane.
On Tuesday (27 Dec), Singaporean Fadhil Yusop, pleaded guilty to three charges, including a rash act endangering life and voluntarily causing hurt by a dangerous weapon.
Another two charges were considered in sentencing.
On 14 March 2022, videos of a man assaulting people and cars with a sword went viral on social media and shocked many Singaporean.
Assaulted pedestrian with Katana
In the video, Fadhil Yusop can be seen swinging his sword at a car as it passes him.
He later walked towards the traffic light and assaulted pedestrians.
When he lost his balance wielding the sword toward an unarmed man, the latter quickly took this opportunity to subdue Fadhil Yusop, pinning him on the ground.
Other pedestrians were seen promptly intervened to help, and some immediately called the police.
The police arrived at the scene and arrested Fadhil Yusop for criminal intimidation and possession of an offensive weapon.
The police subsequently raided Fadhil’s home and seized two packets of “yellow pills”.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, the court heard that Fadhil, the defendant left his house around noon on that day with a 63 cm-long samurai sword.
He went to Buangkok Crescent at around 2.15 pm He held the sword in his right hand and walked in the middle of the road.
Damage costs up to S$2,407 to repair
The defendant attacked at least four drove-by vehicles with his sword, causing damage that costs up to S$2,407 to repair.
When he noticed a pedestrian recording his action, Fadhil approached him and slashed the pedestrian’s arm and shoulder with his sword.
Both of them fell to the ground, and another passer-by immediately ran over and pinned down Fadhil.
Suffering abrasions and cuts, the pedestrian was taken to Sengkang General Hospital, incurring a medical bill of S$110. He was later given three days’ medical leave.
Another charge accused the defendant had attacked another person at the elevator entrance of the HDB flat, before he created a disturbance at Buangkok Crescent.
Lawyer Anand Nalachandran, who took on the case under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme, said Fadhil’s action after taking the drug was “beyond his expectations”, and now he is willing to take responsibility and apologize to all those affected.
Defenant investigated by ISD in 2016 for sharing militant groups images
In a statement on 15 March, Internal Security Department (ISD) said Fadhil was previously investigated in 2016 for sharing images online of militant groups such as HAMAS’ Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades.
Fadhil Yusop also allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the Buangkok incident.
But ISD said, “there was no indication that he was radicalised or intended to engage in armed violence”.
Fadhil was given a written warning for his social media posts.
In January 2020, he was arrested after approaching the imam at Masjid Al-Mawaddah with a knife.
He was found to have consumed a large number of pills containing dextromethorphan, which contributed to his behaviour.
At the time, Fadhil was sentenced to nine months and two weeks’ jail and released from prison in July 2020.
ISD said while Fadhil was assessed not to be radicalised, he was referred for religious counselling after this second incident as a matter of precaution.
Dextromethorphan is used to temporarily relieve cough caused by the common cold, the flu, or other conditions.
But frequent and chronic misuse of dextromethorphan at very high doses could lead to permanent psychological problems such as toxic psychosis.
