A LEG stuck out from nowhere in the darkness.
It sent Chua Wee Kuan, 17, sprawling face first onto the pavement.
The teen was talking on his $500 Samsung handphone when he was tripped. The phone fell to the ground.
In the dim light from the street lamp, he claimed he saw someone picking up his phone as it had fallen too far away for him to reach.
Then he claimed that several men pinned him to the ground.
He didn't know what they wanted, but thought they were going for his silver necklace, a gift from his father.
The teen had no other valuables on him except $10 in his wallet.
The incident took place at East Coast Park - less than a 10-minute walk from Wee Kuan's flat in Marine Crescent.
The bespectacled youngster is waiting for his national service call-up.
In the melee, he grabbed someone's hand, but the person pulled away, scratching Wee Kuan as a result.
He said: 'I couldn't see exactly how many people there were. But I'm sure there were quite a few of them.
'As I thought they were going to snatch my necklace, I struggled violently. After one or two minutes, someone shouted 'Jalan, jalan' and they all ran away.
'By the time I recovered it was too late to give chase.'
No one else was around at the time of the attack, he said.
Wee Kuan was making his way alone to East Coast Park to meet his friends about an hour into the New Year.
Using an underpass, a stone's throw away from Block 89 Marine Parade Central, he emerged from the tunnel and walked on a footpath to get to the beach.
The underpass connects Marine Parade Central to East Coast Park.
He said: 'Although there were lights from lamp-posts, I couldn't see very well as they were dim. Soon after emerging from the underpass, I was tripped.'
After the attack, Wee Kuan went on to meet his friends.
They had planned to go to a house in Bedok to play computer games and cards.
Wee Kuan said: 'My friends accompanied me to Marine Parade NPC to lodge a police report. After that, we went on to Bedok as planned.'
Wee Kuan showed The New Paper the spot where he was attacked. It is about 10m from the underpass entrance.
His sister, Miss Chua Eng Shan, 22, said: 'What if it had happened to a woman or an elderly person? And it took place so close to where we live.'
Handphone thefts decreased by 20 per cent in the first half of last year - the first time the number has fallen in three years.
Between January and June last year, 1,962 handsets were stolen compared to 2,423 for the same period in 2005, according to police statistics.
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Be alert, advise police
POLICE have advised the public to be alert of their surroundings, especially when they are in dark or dimly-lit areas.
The police have classified Chua Wee Kuan's case as one of theft from the person. Under the law, someone can be jailed for up to three years and fined.
Source
Tripped... Then they take $500 phone 
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