An off-duty Certis Cisco protection officer was jailed for four weeks on Thursday for punching and kicking a 69-year-old man at a coffeeshop.

Jay Prakash Jageshwar Rai, 48, had admitted to causing hurt to retiree Ngoh Jat Peng at Block 280 Bishan Street 24 on March 11 last year.

A court heard that Mr Ngoh was having breakfast at the coffeeshop that morning when he commented to his friend in Hainanese that Prakash and his friends were drinking early in the morning and smoking at a non-smoking area. Prakash had been drinking with his friends at the next table for a few hours.

When Prakash noticed this, he became angry and started to scold the victim with vulgarities, including a vulgarity which involved the victim's mother. The victim asked Prakash why he scolded his mother.

Angered, Prakash approached the victim and punched him on the upper part of his body.

The victim raised his hands to block the blows but Prakash kept moving forward and then the victim fell to the ground.

According to the victim, when he got up, Prakash used a chair to hit him on the upper part of the body. When he tried to get away, Prakash threw a chair at him, said the prosecution.

Prakash continued to chase the victim outside the coffeeshop and around vicinity, throwing punches at the victim. When the victim fell, Prakash kicked him.

Prakash had previous records for causing grievous hurt, disorderly behaviour and having an offensive weapon.