Drunk woman who bit police officer sentenced to five months' jail

SINGAPORE: A drunk woman who bit a police officer's hand was sentenced to five months' jail on Tuesday (Jul 24).

Zhang Youjiao, a 31-year-old Chinese national, was in Singapore on a social visit pass in December last year.

At 3.51am on Dec 9, a caller told the police over the phone that a woman was walking in the middle of Serangoon Road.

Two police officers went to the scene and saw Zhang sitting at the side of the road, smelling of alcohol.

Sergeant (SGT) Lim Mei Jing, 21, spoke to Zhang in Mandarin and told her it was dangerous to sit there. She asked Zhang to move to the pavement, but Zhang refused.

Zhang later challenged SGT Lim to lock her up for 24 hours and began to raise her voice and behave aggressively, court documents said.

SGT Lim and her partner decided to place Zhang under arrest, but Zhang put up a violent struggle, biting SGT Lim's right hand in the process.

She later admitted that she had consumed five to six cups of beer before the incident.

On Tuesday, the defence said that a video of the incident showed an officer asking SGT Lim if the bite was serious.

"She said no," the defence said, asking for two to three months' jail.

The defence said that even if there was a bite, it was not a weapon. In response, the prosecutor said that teeth were used and biting can be considered a weapon.

Sentencing Zhang to five months' jail, District Judge Kessler Soh said: "We have to, of course, ensure that our officers will be protected. Any abuse ... will have to be punished severely. The fact that she was intoxicated is not a defence - in fact, in many cases, it's an aggravating factor." 

For voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty, Zhang could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, caned, or given any combination of the three penalties.