Assaulted at Fort Canning Park

[takada]

Hi guys, just want to share my bad experience with you

Today (24-Jan-09) i went to chinatown alone to take some pictures. I went there around 13:00 and i took some shots and i decided to go back at around 15:00. SO i took a walk towards bugis direction and i saw "Fort Canning Park" just across Funan Mall. Because i planned to go back to chinatown at the night so i think a detour to Fort Canning Park might be a good decision instead of go back to where i stay and come back again to chinatown.

I managed to circled around the park, it's a nice and beautiful park, made some shots. Soon i decided to take a rest inside the park because i felt pretty tired from walking, so i just sitting on a bench and reviewing my picture and typing sms to my friend. When suddenly someone (from a youngsters group) hit me from behind with a pretty solid wooden branch and made me bleed. I tried to chase them but i came to my sense and prioritize my condition over those youngsters. Luckily there is the western couple a bit further, so i screamed for help.

The male westerner immediately lend me a hand while his wife looking for assistance from the park security. The male westerner also helped me to call the police. I didn't managed to get his name but if you happened to read this i want you to know that i'm very grateful for what you've done for me.

I cover my head with my hand tried to stop the bleeding.. the bloods keep flowing down and spilled on top of my camera. I few minutes later the local security came and gave me first aid and soon enough the police and ambulance came to handle the accident and took me to hospital.

The took me to SGH and immediatley got taken care by the medics. So i ended up lucky, no bone fracture but i got around 10 stitches on my forehead.

OK that's the story.. now we want to take a look at the culprits and their motives behind this assault
The culprits happened to be 4 Indian's youngster.. When i say Indian, i'm not generalizing it, i just said that it happened to be.. so don't make a fuss over this. OK, i met them twice on different spots inside the park and they didn't do anything suspicious.. they just seem to be hanging around and of course i didn't pay any attention because i'm busy looking around for a good spots.. just want to tell you that i'm a type of person that just don't care about others as long as they don't bother me.. so whatever they do when i met them for the first 2 times doesn't concern me. So basically what i want to say is that they didn't hold any grudge and so do i..







This no grudge things made me confused.. why they hit me when neither of us got something to do with each others.. i don't suspect anything until i get back home and start thinking and i realized something.. I think that my digital camera attract them.. if that's the case then everything become understandable.

So somehow the reason is that they were attracted to my camera. They decided that one person would hit me hard on head with something blunt, hoping that i felt unconscious and they could snatch my camera and most likely my wallet while i unconscious.. they would kill me just for my camera

Just be careful you guys when you are taking a shot at a non crowdy places! do pay attention to your surrounding, instead of getting pictures you could get stitches or worst you get your burial ceremony. Just take my incident as pre-caution.. doesn't matter what your camera type is.. for a commoner, DSLR is something extraordinary for them.. as you can see i only use A200 and 1680 kit lens.. doesn't care whether you had D3X or just plain A200 like mine, your lens is a top notch lens or just a kit lens.. DSLR is DSLR and it does attract attention

This incident made me feel insecured. The next time i'm going for an outing will be with someone/group

[Francis247]

So sorry to hear about your incident.
Hope that you will get well soon.
Did you report to the police?
Hope that you can give a descriptions of your attackers and bring them to justice.

[luna_sea83]

Now lets hope justice gets done and arrest those buggers, put them into jail let them have a taste of the rottan.

seems tht you bleed alot, hope you recover soon in time for CNY.

[Duser]

Hi. I am sorry to hear about what happened, and somemore its coming to the festive season. I am surprised how unsafe it is even in broad daylight. The big steps beside the MITA building leading to the main road..there is a CCTV mounted along there if I am not mistaken. Could that be of any help? Which part of the park were you at that point of time?

[domdomino]

aww ~ sorry to hear that from you. . hope you recover soon

seems like ur cam need go for servicing ( cleaning ) .

[Alankpy]

Sad to hear about ur mishap.
Sincerely hope u will recover well n soon both mentally & physically. Take care!

No matter wat is the attacker's motive in this assault, it's totally unacceptable!
Certainly hope the attacker to be arrested soon before more pple get harmed this way.

[takada]

Hi, thanks for your attention guys. What i want to is for you guys to be careful, just keep in mind that your DSLR is indeed appealing to certain people

Quote: Did you report to the police? Hope that you can give a descriptions of your attackers and bring them to justice.

I already made a report to the police and they will inform me if they have any progress

Quote: Which part of the park were you at that point of time?

On the left side (when you are facing Funan) of "Raffles Terrace", the one with toilet and lot of benches on the area

[Cheesecake]

tas a terrible thing to do to another human!

[UandMe]

These people are ridiculous!

Take care.

[JacePhoto]

This is terrible. Incidents like this gives our country a bad name.

I am sorry this has happened to the TS.

[Rashkae]

Actually, I think they are probably part of a gang and thought you were taking their picture.

[rphotography]

oh gosh..thats real painful. where is the love?
get well soon ya?

[Timber Wolf]

Takada,
Please take care.
I hope you get well soon.

QX

[cssoonhoe]

Sorry to hear on your mishap. Hope you heal soon.

Take care.

[sORe-EyEz]

looks like a nasty cut on the forehead. it on goes to show 1 should never take safety for granted, anytime anywhere.

was wondering if the violence was influenced by alcohol or worse, by sniffing glue.

[MRSAMO]

Holy smoke, glad you're alright mate, at least you seem to take it quite well!

[Dream Merchant]

What happened to you is simply TERRIBLE and INTOLERABLE!!!

But I AM VERY GLAD that nothing more (worse) happened to you, and that the beating stopped at one blow. One is bad enough, but it could have been repeated or a stabbing incident. Depending on how we look at life, it could be bad or good. It's also a very good thing that there was a couple nearby to assist you.

I do hope the culprits get apprehended and served their due justice.

I WON'T speculate why because there could be so many possible reasons, and chances are it wouldn't make sense to us at all unless we know what they were thinking before during and after.

I am glad you're OK Takada.

[ianwurn]

Hey, get well soon ya. And thanks for sharing the lesson learnt and also the warning. I go there quite often to take shots alone and this never crossed my mind.

Hope you don't get a scar left when it all recovers. Take care.

[night86mare]

sorry to hear that such things happen in singapore. whatever their reasons for hitting you, it is definitely not a valid one.

i have had many funny encounters as well, but thankfully nothing physical. one has to be extra alert when alone, not just overseas but even in singapore.

get well soon, and please do not let such incidents affect your perception of photography as a hobby.

[~Arcanic~]

That was really unfortunate you have to met with those people, lucky you managed to get out with nothing worse.

Hopefully someone managed to catch a glimpse of those youngsters and bring them to justice.. or some fingerprint on the wood they hit you with or something..

Best of luck to you.