A Singaporean Muslim who punched a Jew at the National Library in an unprovoked attack was jailed on Thursday (Sep 10). This is the first case of its kind involving a religiously aggravated assault.
Apart from the two offences, he also pleaded guilty to armed robbery and causing hurt to an NTUC FairPrice worker with a knife at Bedok North Street 1 in April. He was sentenced to a total of three years and 12 strokes of the cane.
A Community Court heard that Mr Eliyahu was engrossed in texting his friend at the lobby of the library that day when he heard someone shout at him and felt a punch on his upper right arm.
The Jewish Welfare Board religious staff, who was wearing a yarmulke, saw Azmi staring at him nearby. He took offence of the assault and deemed the tattoo worn by Azmi provocative and anti-Jewish.
Azmi claimed that the words ‘Anti Jews” meant ‘Anti Jagged”, ‘Endeavour”, ‘Worship” and ‘Satanic”, which symbolised underground music.
Pressing for a deterrent sentence, Deputy Public Prosecutor Wong Kok Weng said the offences were racially or religiously aggravated, and threatened the long-term stability and social cohesion of Singapore.‘Such xenophobic acts cannot be condoned in a multi-religious and multi-racial society such as Singapore,” he said.
If hate acts based on race or religion were allowed to persist, the fault lines between the races and/or religious groups would deepen, said the DPP. This would in turn create opportunities for religious extremist groups to exploit.
Community Court Judge Ng Peng Hong agreed with the prosecution that a stiff sentence was warranted.
www.straitstimes.com/
