SINGAPORE: A man was sentenced to 22 weeks’ jail on Thursday (Jul 13) for attacking a taxi driver as he was driving in an expressway tunnel and kicking a police officer who later came to help.
In his defence, he claimed that his actions of kicking the police officer were “involuntary” because he was drunk and needed to go to the toilet.
He had also defecated by the roadside to the cabby’s annoyance before the police officer arrived in a charge taken into consideration.
Chen Lei, 35, was convicted of two counts of voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant and one charge of voluntarily causing hurt.
The court heard that the victim, a 73-year-old taxi driver, picked up Chen after the China national had gone drinking with his friends.
After the cabby entered the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE), Chen began punching the cabby’s head and neck areas without any provocation.
The cabby used one hand to block the attacks and the other to control the steering wheel.
Eventually, he found a safe location to stop at and stepped on the emergency brake, before escaping.
An eyewitness testified that Chen had already manoeuvred himself towards the cabby, with his legs extended to the driver’s seat, before climbing out from the driver’s side door.
The cabby called the police, while Chen defecated by the side of the road, which the eyewitness also saw.
The police came and took Chen with them but Chen kicked the officer twice as he was driving.
The prosecution asked for 22 weeks’ to 28 weeks’ jail, saying the cabby suffered swelling on his hand and pain in his head and neck.
The cabby was a public transport worker, while Chen was voluntarily intoxicated, both aggravating factors, said the prosecutor.
The attack on the taxi driver had also occurred in an expressway tunnel, endangering not only the life of the victim but the lives of other road users.
Chen had also attacked a police officer who was escorting him to lockup, leaving abrasions.
He again endangered the safety of everyone in the police car and of other road users, persisting in showing blatant disrespect for police authority, said the prosecutor.