Man jailed 3.5 months after punching taxi driver when he couldn’t pay
SINGAPORE — A 40-year-old drunk and penniless man who punched a taxi driver after attempting to take a free ride in November last year was sentenced to three and a half months’ jail on Wednesday (June 13).
The jail term for Chua Lye Huat included three other charges, including intentionally causing alarm as well as two theft charges committed while out on police bail.
The court heard that at about 6.30pm on Nov 2 last year, Chua, a dishwasher, asked why Mr Lei Hong Kai, 42, who was having a chat and laughing with three business associates at a coffee shop along Lorong 29 Geylang, was laughing at him.
When Mr Lei denied doing so, Chua smashed the empty beer bottle he retrieved from Mr Lei’s table, murmured to himself, and walked away.
Returning shortly after, Chua told Mr Lei: “This is Geylang, and this is my territory.” A member of public who felt Chua scared customers at the coffee shop called the police.
Barely an hour later, on the same day, Chua got into trouble again. Just 15 minutes after boarding Mr Sumazlan Sunar’s taxi along Lorong 38 Geylang to make his way to Choa Chu Kang Avenue 2, the 59-year-old taxi driver found that Chua had no money on him.
Mr Sumazlan told Chua to get off his taxi, but Chua, who was seated in the front passenger seat, protested by banging the dashboard with his hands and hurling vulgarities at the driver.
Stopping his taxi immediately along Lorong 29 Geylang, Mr Sumazlan alighted to call the police for assistance at about 7.40pm.
Chua then got off the taxi to punch Mr Sumazlan on his face and body multiple times, causing him to suffer multiple contusions on his shoulder and cheek. The attack stopped only when a unnamed passer-by intervened and separated the two.
Mr Sumazlan and the passer-by then held on to Chua, and waited for the police to arrive.
Chua was subsequently arrested at 8.20pm.
On Wednesday, the court ordered Chua to compensate the cabbie’s medical fees, which amounted to S$120. He will have to serve an additional day’s jail if he cannot pay it.
Of the offences he committed while on bail, the court heard that he stole an S$8 polo T-shirt from a store at Sims Avenue on Nov 4 last year — the night after he was released on bail — and a Xinjia brand watch from a Bugis Street stall on April 20 this year.
In the watch theft, Deputy Public Prosecutor Esther Tang noted that Chua noticed the watch while shopping around alone at Bugis Street, thought the watch “looked very nice”, so he stole because he did not have money to purchase it.
The shopkeeper reviewed her closed circuit television footage after noticing that a watch was missing from the rack, and caught Chua walking past the store 10 minutes after she conducted the check.
She called the police after Chua admitted to stealing the watch when she confronted him, and handed the watch back to her.
Chua could have been jailed for up to two years or fined up to S$5,000 for voluntarily causing hurt to Mr Sumazlan. For intentionally causing alarm to Mr Lei, Chua could have been jailed for another six months and fined S$5,000 more.
In sentencing Chua, District Judge Mathew Joseph said his actions to the taxi driver were “egregious” and “inexcusable”.
“You should never have (punched) that taxi driver who was only doing his job,” he said. “And you punched not once but several times (including the face). You were fortunate that there were no serious injuries else you would be facing a charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt (which carries a higher penalty),” he said.
District Judge Joseph added: “If you don’t know how to hold your drink, you should not be drinking any.”
