Indian national jailed in Singapore for biting off part of fellow worker’s index finger during scuffle

A 40-year-old Indian national was jailed for 10 months on Friday for biting off part of the index finger of a compatriot fellow worker under the influence of alcohol in Singapore during a brawl at a party in April this year.

Thangarasu Rengasamy, who worked as an excavator operator, pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Nagooran Balasubramanian’s left index finger, The Straits Times newspaper reported.

Rengasamy and Balasubramanian, both Indian nationals, lived in separate foreign worker dormitories in Kaki Bukit at the time of the offence.

Shortly before the attack, Nagooran, 50, and a construction worker Ramamoorthy Anantharaj, 33, were drinking alcohol in the dormitory on April 22.

An intoxicated Rengasamy, who was seated about 5 metres away from the pair, started shouting and Ramamoorthy told him to keep his volume down.

A scuffle broke out between the pair and Nagooran tried to separate them. Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Cai Chenghan said, "In the midst of the struggle, (Nagooran’s) left index finger inadvertently entered the accused’s mouth. The accused... bit down onto the victim’s finger forcefully and did not let go."

“The accused and the victim then fell to the ground, with the accused still biting down on the victim’s finger,” the Singapore daily quoted the DPP. Ramamoorthy tried to pull Rengasamy away, but he did not loosen his bite.

Nagooran, an electrical engineering technician, finally managed to free himself a few seconds later and saw that his finger was bleeding.

He alerted the police and was rushed to a hospital.

The severed part of Nagooran’s finger could not be found.

He was diagnosed with a partial amputation of the finger and was told that he needed surgery.

DPP Cai had asked for Rengasamy to be jailed for between 10 months and a year.

“The victim will... likely be permanently inconvenienced, given the nature of his profession as an electrical engineering technician,” said the DPP.

Under Singapore's law, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined or caned for voluntarily causing grievous hurt.