51-Year-Old Stranger Bites Elderly Man ‘Like a Zombie’ at Pandan Reservoir, Tears Off Palm Flesh

A 51-year-old permanent resident bit off a chunk of flesh from an elderly man’s palm during a confrontation at Pandan Reservoir in April 2023.

The accused, Yatham Naga Venkata Sateesh, an Indian national, pleaded not guilty to voluntarily causing grievous hurt when his case was heard in court on 27 May.

The victim, 75-year-old Lin Yachun, was walking his dog near the reservoir around 8am on 18 Apr 2023 when he witnessed what he believed was a kidnapping in progress.

He saw a woman running near the water, waving and shouting “Help my child!” while pointing toward a lorry parked nearby.

Elderly Man Intervenes After Hearing Cries for Help at Pandan Reservoir

Lin approached the vehicle and saw Sateesh seated inside, holding a crying toddler in his left arm. Another man, whom Lin described as looking like a foreign worker, stood outside the lorry and appeared to be trying to pull someone from the vehicle.

Believing a kidnapping was taking place, Lin attempted to intervene by telling Sateesh to calm down. He reached out his right hand to gesture for Sateesh to come out of the lorry.

Though he could not fully understand what was being said, Lin recalled hearing the word “prostitute” during the exchange.

Sateesh then allegedly pulled Lin’s right hand toward his mouth and bit down hard, tearing off a portion of flesh. “He bit me like a zombie,” Lin told the court, adding that the pain was overwhelming and beyond description.

The woman who had cried for help gave Lin tissues to stop the bleeding. Emergency services were called to the scene. Police photographs later showed the torn piece of Lin’s palm inside the lorry.

Court Hears Conflicting Accounts of Pandan Reservoir Biting Incident

The court heard that Sateesh’s estranged wife and her boyfriend were present during the incident. Sateesh and his wife had been separated since October 2022 and share a three-year-old daughter, believed to be the child involved in the incident.

The defence disputed Lin’s version of events. Sateesh’s lawyer claimed that Lin had approached him and hit him on the neck, denying that Lin had told him to calm down.

The defence argued that Lin covered Sateesh’s face with his hand, causing him to struggle for breath. Sateesh then allegedly bit down in self-defence.

The lawyer further argued that as Sateesh was holding his daughter and engaged in a struggle with the man outside the lorry, he would not have been able to grab Lin’s hand as described.

During cross-examination, Lin acknowledged that events unfolded rapidly and said his palm may have accidentally covered Sateesh’s mouth, but denied being the aggressor.

Lin maintained that because Sateesh pulled his hand towards him, his palm might have ended up over the other man’s mouth.

Due to the severity of the injury, Lin underwent two surgeries, including a full-thickness skin graft.

Medical reports from the National University Hospital revealed a 5.5cm by 4cm wound on his right palm beneath his right little finger, with skin and subcutaneous tissue loss, along with arterial damage and exposure of his flexor tendon.

Even after the operations, Lin told the court that his hand no longer feels “natural” and that he now struggles to open his palm, grip objects, or apply pressure as he could before.

He can no longer open his palm naturally, hold things, or grasp them tightly.