SINGAPORE: Thinking that a 12-year-old boy sitting in the back of his school bus had spilt a drink and upset that the boy was not wearing a seatbelt, a school bus driver lifted him up and dislocated the boy’s shoulder.
Poh Choon Huat, a 64-year-old Singaporean, was sentenced to seven weeks’ jail on Tuesday (Jan 9) and ordered to pay the boy S$138 (US$104) in compensation for his medical bills.
If he does not pay the compensation he will have to serve another day in jail.
Poh pleaded guilty to one charge of causing hurt to the boy that he did not intend to be grievous but that turned out to be so.
The court heard that the boy was a Primary 6 student at a school not named in court papers. There is a gag order on anything that could identify the boy.
On Jul 31, 2023, the boy boarded the school bus with his friend and they sat in the last row of seats.
The boy helped his friend to open a can of green tea and passed it to his friend.
However, the bus suddenly came to a stop and the boy’s friend dropped the can, spilling the liquid.
The boy shouted to alert the bus attendant, who scolded the boy and his friend.
The prosecutor said the boy tried to explain that he was not the one who spilt the drink, but the bus attendant said she would report this to his teacher.
The bus stopped in front of a condominium in Tampines and Poh scolded the boy, saying: “You still want to argue ah?”
The boy tried to explain, but Poh said he would tell his teacher and asked the boy to leave the bus.
Poh then grabbed the boy’s left wrist and left shoulder, swiping his cheek and wanting to pull him up from his seat.
The boy grabbed onto his chair and seatbelt and shouted that he would not leave the bus. He also shouted at Poh that Poh should not touch him.
At this point, the boy’s 11-year-old sister, who was also on the bus, shouted for someone to take a video, and the boy’s friend tried to unlock his phone to do so.
The bus attendant intervened and Poh went back to driving the bus.
When the boy saw his grandmother later, he told her what happened and cried. The grandmother confronted Poh, who brushed it off by laughing and denied what happened.
The boy’s grandmother lodged a police report the next day, saying she had received three missed calls from her grandson who later said he had been beaten by his bus driver.
When she met the boy, he was crying, had a red mark on his shoulder and could not lift his hand properly.
The boy saw a doctor on Aug 2, 2023, and was diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder, tenderness over the area, a scratch on his left cheek and left shoulder pain with a tingling sensation on his arm.
He had his arm placed in a sling and was given hospitalisation leave from Aug 2 to Aug 15 last year.
Poh later said he was angry because the boy was not using a seatbelt and had thrown items all over the bus and dirtied the bus. He admitted grabbing the boy’s shoulder, wanting to pull him out of the seat.
The prosecutor asked for eight to 10 weeks’ jail, noting Poh’s early plea of guilt.
BUS DRIVER ASKS FOR FINE
Poh’s lawyer, Mr Manickavasagam RM Karuppiah Pillai, said his client was asking for a fine.
While the lawyer said he had told Poh about the consequences, he asked the judge to consider that the injury caused here was a dislocation, whereas the case cited by the prosecution involved a fracture.
In response, the prosecutor said the victim in the cited case where a fracture was caused was an adult. Here, the victim was a boy.
In sentencing, District Judge Kenneth Chin said: “As a bus driver entrusted with the safety of his young charges, the accused’s response in this episode was inappropriate, disproportionate and had caused harm to a young victim, including the dislocation of his shoulder and almost two weeks of hospitalisation leave.”
He said a message must be sent that such conduct is not acceptable and agreed with the prosecution that a fine was not appropriate.
For causing hurt that was not intended to be grievous but turned out to be so, Poh could have been jailed for up to five years, fined up to S$10,000, or both.