Motorist gets two weeks' jail for attacking another with steering wheel lock

Saw Tze Ming was offered a $10,000 bail, pending appeal against his two-week jail sentence. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - A man who attacked another with a steering wheel lock in a road rage case was sentenced to two weeks' jail on Tuesday (May 24).

Saw Tze Ming was offered bail of $10,000 pending his appeal against the sentence.

The 46-year-old pleaded guilty to hurting engineer Oh Teck Soon, 55, by hitting him on the head with the steering wheel lock, causing him to suffer a minor head injury, near Scotts Road at 12.13pm on Sept 23, 2014.

Oh has been dealt with earlier. He was given 10 days' jail for throwing a can at Saw's wife and fined $1,500 for causing alarm.

In sentencing Saw on Tuesday (May 24), District Judge Lim Tse Haw said the conduct of both men in this case was "shocking".

"Both of you had no business staring at each other. Your attention should be on the road and not engaged in a staring incident. You (Saw) did all the right thing initially to ignore the victim's provocation, but the moment you decided to take the law into your own hands .... you were in the wrong,'' he added.

Investigations showed that just before 12.09pm that day, both Saw and Oh were driving their cars along the Central Expressway (CTE) near the Bukit Timah Road exit when they got into a staring incident.

After they had exited CTE, Saw stopped his car at the first traffic light junction near Cairnhill Circle and the victim followed suit behind him.

Oh alighted from his car and approached Saw, intending to confront him over the staring incident along the CTE.

He opened the driver door of Saw's car and was spoiling for a fight, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Kelly Ho.

His threatening behaviour caused alarm to Saw as well as his 41-year-old then fiancee, Ms Rebecca Tan Hui Lin, who was seated beside him.

Oh returned to his car.

Saw and Oh continued driving until their cars stopped side by side at the traffic light junction of Cairnhill Road and Scotts Road.

Oh wound down his driver seat window and Saw wound down the front passenger seat window. Both then got into a verbal dispute.

Suddenly, Oh threw a plastic bottle of cleaning solution towards Ms Tan, hitting her in the left ear.

The two men next stopped along the roadside. Saw alighted holding a 58cm-long steering wheel lock and approached Oh. Oh similarly came out of his car and retrieved a metal rod from the car boot.

The two got into a scuffle. In the midst of it, Saw hit the victim on the head with the steering wheel lock, causing him to bleed. The scuffle ended. Oh called the police.

Oh was given two days' medical leave for the minor head injury with laceration and right forearm contusion.

For Saw, the maximum punishment for causing hurt is two years' jail and a $5,000 fine.

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