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SINGAPORE: A Japanese national escaped imprisonment yesterday after he lodged a successful appeal against his six-week jail sentence for assaulting a taxi driver.
Mr Taniguchi Mitsuru left the cab without paying the fare on September 2 last year, after the driver failed to find the passenger's destination despite driving round the Punggol Estate repeatedly.
Cabbie Lim Hing Soon then pursued Mr Mitsuru to collect his taxi fare but the intoxicated passenger pushed the driver.
Mr Lim, 65, then returned to his taxi to retrieve an umbrella, but fell to the ground during the tussle. The scuffle for control of the umbrella continued and the cabbie suffered a cut on his forehead.
Lawyer Tan Lee Cheng argued that Mr Mitsuru's actions were in "self-defence", and the case was not one where the passenger laid "direct blows" or "went for the jugular". "The minute he (Mr Mitsuru) saw the taxi driver bleed, he stopped," added Ms Tan.
But deputy public prosecutor Hay Hung Chun argued that a custodial sentence was still appropriate - the passenger could have paid part of the fare and then lodge a complaint with the taxi company instead.
Justice Lee Seiu Kin noted that Mr Mitsuru, 47, feared the cabbie would use the umbrella to hit him. The High Court Judge substituted the Japanese's jail sentence with a $2,000 fine.
But Justice Lee drew a distinction between this assault and another against a public bus driver.
In that case, Balbir Singh, 45, kicked a bus driver on his leg after being reminded the second time to pay his fare. In appealing against the one-month jail sentence, lawyer S K Kumar argued yesterday that Mr Singh's assault on the bus was committed in "a spur of the moment" and that he was "in a hurry".
But Justice Lee rebutted the lawyer's argument, "Half of the people taking bus are in a hurry too."
The High Court Judge noted that the bus driver was merely doing his job when he asked Mr Singh to pay his fare.
"What business does your client have in going around kicking them? He was unreasonable and obnoxious," said Justice Lee, who also noted that the safety of other bus passengers or road users might be at stake.
The High Court Judge said a deterrent message needed to be sent out that attacks against bus drivers would not be tolerated. "If you try this kind of stunt and endanger other people on the bus, we will put you in," added Justice Lee. - TODAY/vm
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