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Man who escaped trial brought to justice 10 years on
By Alvina Soh | Posted: 01 June 2012 1852 hrs
SINGAPORE: A fishmonger who fled to Malaysia while on trial for beating a man in 2003 was on Friday given a 25-month jail sentence and three strokes of the cane.
45-year-old Chua Chai Chuan pleaded guilty to a series of offences, including abscondence, theft and possessing a false Singaporean passport.
The offences started in March 2003 when Chua, who was S$20,000 in debt, turned the tables on a debt collector who came knocking at the door of his Toa Payoh flat.
Chua cornered his debt collector at a staircase landing and hit him with a 77-centimetre long iron rod. He also stole his victim's mobile phone during the attack.
Chua was then charged with causing grievous hurt to 36-year-old Tan Kok Wee, and a separate count of extortion in 2003.
However, he did not show up in court for a scheduled hearing on 21 July 2003.
Instead, he fled to Johor Bahru the next day - the same day a warrant was issued against him.
Chua stayed in Johor Bahru for the next seven years.
In 2008, he was granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for the two charges brought against him in 2003, as he was still at large.
However, he was arrested by Malaysian police in August 2010 for an alleged offence.
While he was in prison in Malaysia, Chua met a man called "Ah Peng", who offered to make a false Singaporean passport for him in exchange for Chua taking the rap for the alleged offence.
Chua was repatriated to Singapore upon his release from the Malaysian prison in May 2011.
But two months later, he was arrested by the police here after he was found to have a fake passport in his possession.
- CNA/al
