Indian gets 10 months jail, canning for attacking cook over payment of food

SINGAPORE: An Indian-origin man in Singapore was on Friday sentenced to 10 months of jail, along with six strokes of the cane and a fine of 3,000 dollars for attacking a cook at a stall here last year after being asked to pay for the food he ordered, according to a media report.
At the court, Murugan Joseph, 45, pleaded guilty to five charges, including voluntarily causing hurt with a weapon, possessing a weapon, using insulting words, mischief and theft.
The incident happened last year when jobless Murugan and two of his Indian friends went to a food stall and ordered rotis (chapatis), Channel News Asia reported.
Murugan has also been fined 3,000 Singapore dollars.
Once the food was ready the three were asked to pay by the stall assistant, but he was informed that they did not have any money to pay for the order they placed.
Infuriated that the assistant did not give them any food, Murugan and his friends confronted him for more than 10 minutes, the report quoted the deputy public prosecutor Shenna Tjoa as saying in the court.
Following the altercation, Murugan and his friend left the stall but returned again to ask for the food. But they were refused.
Hearing the loud argument, the cook, Revi Jose Vibin, stepped in.
As the altercation grew, Murugan took a knife and slashed the cook on the left side of his head, leaving a deep cut.
Following the incident, the three men were arrested and booked for the crime.
A blood sample taken from Murugan showed that he was intoxicated at the time of the attack.