SINGAPORE – One of the two men accused of assaulting Mr Shawn Ignatius Rodrigues, which lead to his death in July 2016, said he did not intend to endanger the victim. Instead, he had wanted to apprehend him and hand him over to the police.

This was because Mr Rodrigues had not been arrested by the police even after various police reports on harassment were lodged against him, the court heard from the assailant, Ryan Xavier Tay Seet Choong, on Wednesday (March 11).

Tay and his stepfather, Lawrence Lim Peck Beng, are on trial for their alleged involvement in the 26-year-old’s death at a HDB block in Yishun on July 9, 2016.

Tay, 24, is accused of causing grievous hurt to Mr Rodrigues on the day of his death. The two men had known each other from church, but Tay’s family had subsequently lodged multiple police reports against Mr Rodrigues for harassment.

Lim,58, is accused of aiding Tay by sitting on Mr Rodrigues’ buttocks and holding his legs while Tay assaulted him.

The court heard that Mr Rodrigues was at the entrance of Tay’s home in Yishun on that fateful day, and was chased down the common corridor by him.

After a scuffle between both men, Tay ended up pinning Mr Rodrigues face down at the end of the corridor. Lim subsequently joined Tay in restraining Mr Rodrigues.

Tay allegedly stomped on Mr Rodrigues’ shoulder, punched his face and head multiple times, forcefully pushed his face to the ground and pressed his knee on his back for about 20 minutes.

This caused him to suffer traumatic asphyxia with a head injury that led to his death.

The duo were charged in 2018.

On Wednesday, Tay testified that he chased Mr Rodrigues on the fateful day as he wanted to detain and deliver him to the police.

He also told the court that he struck at Mr Rodrigues while pinning him down to prevent him from struggling.

Disagreeing with Deputy Public Prosecutor Jason Chua’s suggestion that his actions that day endangered Mr Rodrigues’ life, Tay added that he tilted Mr Rodrigues’ head to the side when he noticed blood flowing from Mr Rodrigues’ face. This was when he was pinning Mr Rodrigues face down on the floor.

“I did not want him to choke on his own blood,” Tay said.

According to police statements made by Lim, which were read out in court last month, Mr Rodrigues had been harassing his family since 2014. Among other things, he had knocked repeatedly on the door of the family’s flat on the sixth floor of Block 279 Yishun Street 22 and shouted that he wanted to see Tay on multiple occasions.

The court earlier heard that Lim’s family lodged over 50 police reports and raised the matter to their Member of Parliament, whose identity was not mentioned.

They also brought a Magistrate’s Complaint over Mr Rodrigues’ actions. The latter resulted in mediation proceedings between the family and Mr Rodrigues, which were still ongoing at the time of his death.

The trial continues on Thursday (March 12), when Tay is expected to continue testifying.

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