The owner of the popular murtabak restaurant Zam Zam, who conspired with a long-time friend to slash the face of a business rival in 2015, was sentenced to jail on Monday (May 11).

Zackeer Abbass Khan, 49, was given six years' jail and six strokes of the cane for masterminding an attack on Victory restaurant supervisor Liakath Ali Mohamed Ibrahim.

His friend, 50-year-old Anwer Ambiya Kadir Maideen, who was a secret society member, was given five-and-a-half years' jail for hiring secret society member Joshua Navindran Surainthiran to attack Liakath.

Anwer was spared caning as he was above the age of 50.

Joshua was previously sentenced in November 2016 to six-and-a-half years' jail, and six strokes of the cane, for the slashing and other offences.

Zackeer bore a grudge against Liakath

Zackeer and Liakath were business partners in 2005, running Mina Al Likha Restaurant, when the business failed and both men were sued for a sum of S$38,841.60.

Zackeer claimed that he settled this sum in full via instalment payments, while Liakath paid nothing.

When the restaurant was then sold to Victory restaurant, Zackeer claimed that Liakath cheated him of S$80,000 in sales proceeds, as he was told that the business was sold for S$100,000, when it was in fact sold for S$180,000.

Zackeer blamed Liakath for this sequence of events, and relations soured further when Liakath subsequently joined Victory Restaurant in 2014.

According to court documents, Zackeer admitted that he "did not have a problem with Victory Restaurant", but had "some personal problem" with Liakath.

Zackeer ordered an attack after threatening Liakath

On Aug. 22, 2015, the police approached the employees of both Zam Zam and Victory restaurants, advising them to refrain from touting outside their restaurants.

Zackeer believed that this was a "set up" orchestrated by Liakath, and that he ratted on Zam Zam employees to the police.

As a result, Zackeer threatened Liakath in Tamil: "I see how you will work here and within one week I will either hit or kill you".

He then called upon his long-time friend Anwer to procure an attack on the victim, offering S$2,000 to get the job done.

Anwer hired Joshua to do the deed, giving him S$1,700, and instructing him to give Liakath "a slash on the face".

The act was carried out on Aug. 26, 2015, within a week of Zackeer's threat, and left a permanent scar on Liakath's face.

S$2,000 handed to Anwer, who then transferred attacker S$1,700

In their submissions, the prosecutors involved argued that Zackeer bore a clear grudge against the victim, and that Zackeer was the only person who bears a personal grudge and ill-will against Liakath.

Anwer barely knew the man, while Joshua "did not even know who the victim was".

Zackeer also initiated and funded the attack, and was implicated as the mastermind behind the slashing.

However, Anwer initially claimed that he had no connection to the attack, and that "he dare not comment whether Zackeer had hired anybody to do it".

He said that Zackeer informed him that Liakath had been scolding Zam Zam workers, and needed to be told to "stop pulling his customers".

Subsequently, when Joshua went to Anwer's restaurant, Anwer asked Joshua to give Liakath a stern verbal warning, and show him a photograph of the man.

He claimed that no payment was offered, although he passed S$200 to Joshua, which was meant as a loan to tide him through his "financial difficulties".

After the slashing, he claimed that Joshua turned up at his restaurant, and showed him a 10cm deep cut on his hand, which was sustained when Joshua engaged in a scuffle with Liakath.

When Zackeer later gave Anwer S$2,000 in cash, Anwer transferred S$1,700 to Joshua, but during his evidence-in-chief, he did not explain why Zackeer had handed him S$2,000.

During his cross-examination, Anwer agreed that the S$2,000 was meant for Joshua's medical expenses.

In his defence, Zackeer claimed that he had never seen Joshua before, and claimed that Anwer took matters into his own hands after he complained to Anwer that "this person keeps disturbing me", referring to Liakath.

According to Zackeer, the S$2,000 that he gave Anwer was meant as a loan to Anwer.

Zackeer intends to make an appeal

The two men were the last two people involved in the case yet to be convicted.

According to CNA, District Judge Mathew Joseph said that Zackeer "should have known better", given that he was a "successful businessman in Singapore".

He also said that the defence had downplayed Anwer's role as a middleman, and that Zackeer was "the mastermind of the entire conspiracy".

Anwer was granted his request to defer sentence, as he needed to arrange for someone to take over his restaurant business.

Zackeer also intends to appeal against the judge's decisions, and his bail has been set at S$75,000, according to The Straits Times.

Top image via Firman Adha/Google Maps.