November 8 news on new paper.
THE parang attack ended as swiftly as it had begun.
In less than five minutes, the attackers had fled the scene after pouncing on a group of seven friends.
The silence was telling too. It was as if the gang of around eight male attackers was focused on just slashing their victims.
One victim said the attackers were so quiet that all he could hear was the sounds of parangs slicing their bodies.
But the ferocity of the attack was never in doubt.
It left two victims lying in a pool of their own blood.
One had his left hand nearly chopped off - he 'could feel it dangling'.
Another victim managed to flee the scene, but not before getting a deep cut that stretched from his right ear to his mouth.
A fourth man and the three women who were with them escaped unharmed.
All three victims, men in their mid-20s, survived the vicious attack, which happened outside Liang Court shopping complex near Clarke Quay at about 4am on Sunday.
It was the latest in a string of similar horrific incidents.
The trio, who are colleagues at a pest control company, and their family members declined to be identified when The New Paper spoke to them in hospital.
All three victims claimed the attack had been unprovoked and that neither they nor their friends had offended anyone recently.
They also insisted they had not stepped on anyone's toes while partying at the nearby Ministry of Sound (MOS) on Saturday night, shortly before they were attacked.
'DIDN'T OFFEND ANYONE'
David (not his real name), 25, who nearly lost his hand, said: 'We didn't offend anyone there. Nor are we involved in any gang activities.
'It could be a case of mistaken identity or it could be something else. But I have no idea why we were attacked.'
He said the group had gone to a fast-food outlet at Liang Court for supper.
One of them, a man, entered the outlet to buy some food and drinks while the rest waited for him on the steps outside, facing River Valley Road.
Mark, 25, one of the victims, said he saw a stranger pushing his friend the moment he emerged from the outlet with the food and drinks.
Said Mark: 'The stranger appeared from nowhere and started chasing my friend, who was running away.
'He was shouting 'jangan lari' (do not run, in Malay)'.
What happened next was so sudden that Mark had no time to react.
He said: 'I turned around and saw two men on my right. One of them slashed my face and the other slashed my head with parangs.'
He needed 26 stitches on his face and six on the head.
Mark, who described the attackers as men in their late teens to early 20s, said he then fled towards MOS.
The attackers didn't pursue him.
The three women in the group were unharmed but stunned by the attack, he said.
Mark choked on his words as he recalled how he ran back to the scene to check on his friends David and Luke.
But he realised that they were not as lucky as he was, as both were slumped in a pool of blood, right where they had been sitting with him.
Luke, 24, recounted: 'There was no time to run at all as the attackers appeared from nowhere.
'The attack was over in less than five minutes but it felt like it lasted a very long time.'
He said the first blows landed on his head, leaving two 10-cm slashes on his scalp.
Luke said he then raised his hands to cover his head, but that left him with badly-damaged nerves on both hands.
His mother said doctors told the family that metal parts have been inserted into Luke's right hand and it could take around two years for him to recover completely.
As the attackers relentlessly slashed at his hands, Luke, the eldest of five children, said he thought he was going to die and that he would never see his family again.
He recalled: 'I prayed to God that it was up to him to decide if it was time for me to die.'
David said he also feared for his life during the attack.
After the attackers fled, he opened his eyes to find himself lying in a pool of blood.
FELT HAND DANGLING
Said David: 'I could feel my left hand dangling.'
As he lay on the ground, he felt he was losing consciousness.
Said David: 'A passer-by then shook me and told me not to sleep and to stay conscious.
'I thought about my family and told myself to stay awake.'
He remained conscious until he and his two friends were taken to Singapore General Hospital, where they have undergone several operations.
With tears in her eyes, Mark's mother, 46, a housewife, said she fainted when she arrived at the hospital with her husband and saw the blood-stained clothes of the eldest of her four children.
Her husband said their grief gave way to anger when Mark told them that it was an unprovoked attack.
Said Mark's father: 'It makes me angry to know that he was attacked without having offended anyone.'
Police spokesman ASP Stanley Norbert said no arrests have been made so far, but police are investigating.
