Man arrested for allegedly causing hurt to hotel employee

SINGAPORE - A 31-year-old man was arrested on Friday night after he allegedly assaulted an employee of Conrad Centennial Singapore in front of the hotel's main entrance, and had to be pinned down by hotel staff when he tried to escape.

Police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force were alerted to the scuffle just before 8.30pm. The victim, a 32-year-old Singaporean woman who works as a duty manager at the hotel, was taken while still conscious to Singapore General Hospital after she complained of neck pains.

A hotel spokesman told The Straits Times that the man was not employee or guest of the hotel.

A witness to the incident, Mr Bryden Toh, said he was having dinner in a ballroom at the hotel, when he stepped out to make a phonecall.

"I saw a Caucasian man - he just walked up to one of the hotel staff standing at the door, held her neck, and pushed her into the middle of the road," he said. "He banged her head on the ground. The other hotel staff shouted at him, asking him to stop."

As he tried to escape, two security guards tried to hold him back, but they struggled as he was "very tall and muscular", added Mr Bryden, who is in his 40s. Mr Bryden eventually helped the guards to hold the man down while waiting for the police to arrive.

A spokesman for the hotel would only confirm that the incident occured, adding that the matter "is now in the hands of the authorities for further investigation".

Police have classified the case as one of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and rash act. Investigations are ongoing.

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