Driver fined $2,500 for punching man who had touched his girlfriend's shoulder

SINGAPORE - A driver pushed and punched another man in the head for "behaving inappropriately" towards his girlfriend in a pub, causing him to fall to the floor and dislocate his shoulder in an incident last year.

On Tuesday, Tan Yong Chun, 24, was fined $2,500 in a district court after he pleaded guilty to hurting Mr Alvin Tiong Teck Chuan, 32, at the Sonar pub in Orchard Hotel at 2am on Sept 3 last year.

The court heard that Mr Tiong and his colleagues had arrived at the pub three hours before the incident and saw mutual friends celebrating the birthday of Tan's girlfriend. They went over to mingle with the group, which included Tan.

Mr Tiong was later talking to Tan's girlfriend, and had touched her shoulder, when Tan suddenly came up to him and punched his forehead. Mr Tiong fell to the floor and felt pain in his right shoulder after getting up. He grabbed Tan's shirt and asked why he had done that, but Tan responded by punching his right cheek more than five times. This was when the pub's security and Tan's friend intervened and broke up the fight.

Further investigations showed that Tan had felt Mr Tiong was behaving inappropriately towards his girlfriend, and had acted in anger.

Mr Tiong was taken to hospital and given four days of medical leave.

Tan's lawyer, Mr Louis Joseph, said his client was remorseful. For voluntarily causing hurt, Tan could have been jailed up to two years and fined $5,000.

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