Bartender jailed for punching cabby and stealing liquor
Published Sep 2, 2015, 2:44 pm SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent
SINGAPORE - A bartender punched a taxi driver who had told him repeatedly not to eat his fast food meal in the taxi.
This happened in the early hours of Sept 4 last year, along Lower Delta Road.
Cabby Philip Do Chiong Yu, 51, then pressed the distress button in the taxi, but continued driving.
When he told the passenger, Azhar Abdullah, that he was going to drive him back to Liang Court where he had boarded the taxi, the 36-year-old punched the cabbie again a few times, knocking off his spectacles and leaving him with a cut near the left brow area.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Senthilkumaran Sabapathy said Mr Do kept driving, enduring the pain, until Azhar jumped out of the moving taxi at the yellow box junction of Clemenceau Avenue and River Valley Road .
Mr Do stopped the vehicle and Azhar shouted at him. Shortly afterwards, the police arrived and arrested him.
On Wednesday , Azhar was sentenced to three months' jail after he admitted hurting Mr Do along Lower Delta Road at about 3.20am last Sept 4.
He was sentenced to another three months for stealing two bottles of Skyy Infusions Vodka totalling $394 with a female friend at China One club at Clarke Quay on Jan 23 this year. The items were recovered.
A charge of rash act to endanger the personal safety of another was taken into consideration.
Azhar had previous convictions for robbery, disorderly behaviour and using abusive language towards a public servant and drug-related offences.
Noting his bad criminal history, District Judge John Ng said it was possible to send him for corrective training which is a minimum of five years.
"I think you have to bear that in mind from now on after you finish serving this round of sentences,'' he told Azhar.
Azhar was allowed to defer his total sentence of six months' jail until Sept 16.
He could have been jailed for up to two years and fined up to $5,000 for causing hurt. For theft, the maximum penalty is seven years' jail and a fine.
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