Man in Woodlands interchange spitting case found guilty; sentencing to be done on Friday

Former technician Juraimi Kamaludin, who spat at two women at Woodlands bus interchange last October, was convicted of five charges on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 after a three-day trial. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
Former technician Juraimi Kamaludin, who spat at two women at Woodlands bus interchange last October, was convicted of five charges on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 after a three-day trial. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

The man who spat at two women at Woodlands bus interchange last October was convicted of five charges on Wednesday after a three-day trial.

Cleaner Juraimi Kamaludin, 48, was found guilty of being a public nuisance; spitting at customer service officer Teoh Lay Peng, 41, once and pushing her out of the front door of SMRT service 950; two counts of spitting at secretary Lee Kuan Eng, 34, for a total of six times last October.

Juraimi, who has criminal records for mainly theft and drug-related offences, will be sentenced on Friday. Deputy Public Prosecutor Francis Zhang Zeyi had sought a total jail term of four months and two weeks for four of the charges, plus the maximum fine of $1,000 for the public nuisance charge.

On Wednesday, District Judge Lim Keng Yeow rejected Juraimi's defence that he did not push Ms Teoh and that she had run down the bus on her own.

He said the closed-circuit television footage showed she was forcefully ejected from the bus and fell backwards onto the platform outside the bus.

Juraimi had also claimed that Ms Teoh had called him "stupid'' and "idiot'' after accusing him of queue cutting on the evening of Oct 22.

As for Ms Lee, he admitted spitting at her after alleging that she had insulted his mother and called him "stupid Malay''.

He also heard her say loudly "bloody hell'' and thought she was referring to him. Both women have denied his allegations.

The judge found that Ms Lee did not use those words as alleged at Juraimi. Even if she had used some other words or expletives, he said, these did not amount to grave and sudden provocation as his reaction was far disproportionate.

Judge Lim said there was a misunderstanding of the actions and this was unfortunate, but Juraimi had over-reacted.

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