SINGAPORE - A 33-year-old man who assaulted a bus driver in December last year was jailed for 22 months and five weeks on Thursday (Nov 3).
Mohamed Faridz Abdul Azeez, whose occupation is not known, pleaded guilty to five charges: causing hurt, committing an obscene act, snatch theft, driving under disqualification, and possession of uncustomed goods.
He was also fined $40,000 and barred from driving for four years.
A district court heard that after boarding SBS Transit bus service number 2 at a bus stop near Block 220 Victoria Street on Dec 9 last year, Faridz hit the bus driver for closing the door on him.Faridz was carrying his girlfriend's daughter when the door hit his left arm and the girl's head. His girlfriend was then pushing another daughter in a stroller.
After being punched in the mouth, the bus driver Zhang Lei, 35, grabbed hold of the stroller but when Faridz saw this, he boarded the bus again and punched Mr Zhang three times in his head.
The driver had a bruised lower lip and his upper left front tooth came loose. He was given medical leave until Dec 15.
That wasn't Faridz's only run-in with the law. He had exposed himself to a 50-year-old woman at the void deck of Block 109 Simei Street 1on Feb 6 and fled when she tried to take a picture of him.
On April 6, Customs officers found Faridz with a big box of duty unpaid cigarettes at the lift lobby of Block 135 Bedok North Street 2.
The excise duty leviable on the 3.37kg of cigarettes was $1,307.56. He was previously sentenced for having duty unpaid cigarettes in May 2013.
Four months later on Aug 29, he snatched a pouch containing $10,000 from a 62-year-old man he had tailed from a coffee shop at Lorong 18 Geylang to the second floor lift landing of Block 2 Hougang Avenue 3.And despite being barred from driving for two years, from July 28, 2015, Faridz was caught driving a borrowed car on Sept 1.
The maximum punishment for causing hurt is up to two years' jail and a fine of up to $5,000 for committing an obscene act in public; up to three months' jail and a fine, for having uncustomed goods, for a second conviction, a fine and up to six years' jail; for snatch theft, up to seven years' jail with caning; for driving under disqualification, a fine of up to $10,000 and up to three years' jail.
