SINGAPORE - A flight attendant who punched the driver of a company van twice on his cheek in a road rage incident was jailed for one month on Wednesday (April 6).
Abdul Hadi Abdul Harris, 26, pleaded guilty to hurting Mr Iskandar Mohamed Noor, causing the 42-year-old to suffer a small bruise and tenderness on the head and cheekbone area, at the bus stop opposite Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Clementi Road, on July 21 last year.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Zhuo Wenzhao said that Mr Iskandar was driving the van on the left lane of Clementi Road towards Ulu Pandan that morning when he filtered to the right as there were some road works in progress at the merging lane.
At that moment, Hadi, who was behind the wheel of his Suzuki Swift car with his girlfriend, Ms Bernice Lim Hui Ying, 24, applied his brakes and sounded his car horn at the victim.
Hadi then proceeded to overtake the victim's van, rolled down his window and gestured to Mr Iskandar to stop at the bus stop in front.
When the two motorists got out of their vehicles, Mr Iskandar explained that he had to filter into Hadi's path to avoid the road works in front of his lane.
A quarrel broke out and Hadi punched Mr Iskandar twice on the right side of his cheek. His girlfriend then pushed him away to stop him from further assaulting the victim.
Mr Iskandar did not retaliate. Instead, he went to his vehicle to retrieve his mobile phone to take a photograph of Hadi's car number plate.
But before he could do so, Ms Lim snatched away his cellphone and threw it onto a grass patch nearby. It was not damaged.
Hadi then went to Mr Iskandar's vehicle and took the $299 in-car camera and threw it into a worksite nearby.
The couple drove off. Mr Iskandar retrieved his mobile phone and called the police.
He sought treatment at National University Hospital and was given two days of medical leave.
A second charge of damaging the in-camera of Essential Werks' van was taken into consideration.
DPP Zhuo said in this case, considering that the injuries inflicted were not that severe, a sentence near the lower range would be suitable. The benchmark sentence for such a case is one to three months' jail.
Hadi could have been jailed for up to two years andr fined up to $5,000 for causing hurt.
