Man jailed for assaulting fellow construction worker who took his safety harness

Man jailed for assaulting fellow construction worker who took his safety harness

SINGAPORE: Angered that his colleague had taken his safety harness, a construction worker assaulted him after an argument ensued, leaving him with grievous fractures.

Cai Linghui, 43, was sentenced to a year’s jail on Thursday (Oct 6). He pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing grievous hurt, with a second charge taken into consideration.

The court heard that Cai and the 33-year-old victim worked at the same construction site of a church in Choa Chu Kang.

At around 1pm on Jun 3, the victim came across Cai’s safety harness that had been left unattended. He put it on and continued working, but Cai spotted him wearing it.

Cai told him that the harness was his and that he wanted it back, but the victim asked him to wait. They began arguing and Cai pulled the harness downwards, causing the victim to lose his footing and fall from the scaffolding he was standing on.

As the victim fell, he accidentally and lightly kicked Cai on his chest, said the prosecutor.

The victim landed on the ground, still tethered to the scaffolding by his harness.

Cai began punching the victim, who retaliated by returning the punch. Cai picked up a steel pipe and began assaulting the victim’s head with it, causing his helmet to come off.

He then punched the victim repeatedly in the face until other workers stopped him. The punches were caught on camera.

The victim was taken to hospital with injuries including multiple facial fractures and abrasions over his head, chest and shin. His vision was blurry and he was given follow-ups with ophthalmology and plastic surgery specialists. He was reviewed in July with no significant cosmetic or functional defects other than a nasal obstruction.

The prosecutor asked for 13 to 14 months’ jail, noting the seriousness of the injuries caused. She accepted that the victim retaliated – although only to a small degree – and that the accused’s guilty plea indicated remorse.

However, she pointed out the charge taken into consideration, where Cai struck the victim with a metal pole. She added that Cai had also endangered the victim’s safety by pulling him off the scaffolding.

Cai was remanded and had no lawyer. He said he did not think the victim’s injuries were that serious as he heard he had gone back to work, but this argument was rebuffed by the judge, who got the interpreter to read out to him again the list of injuries caused.

For voluntarily causing grievous hurt, Cai could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined or caned.