SINGAPORE - A commercial diver who had had too much to drink one night in April this year attacked a taxi driver, causing him to bleed from the nose, and spat on the face of a police officer.
For assaulting a public servant on duty and for voluntarily causing hurt to a person, Guntur Djafril, 30, was sentenced to two months' jail on Monday.
The court heard that Djafril boarded the taxi driven by Mr Lim Beng Yaw Admen from the Pan Pacific Hotel in the wee hours of the morning on April 30, with the help of a bouncer from a nearby nightclub.
He had been drinking at the nightclub prior to that.
Djafril then instructed Mr Lim to drive to Bedok North Avenue 6, an address that Mr Lim said did not exist. Djafril told Mr Lim to start driving anyway.
When the taxi was travelling along the East Coast Parkway toward Changi, Djafril began to light up a cigarette. He threw it out of the taxi when Mr Lim told him to stop smoking, but lit up another cigarette. He became unhappy when Mr Lim again told him to stop smoking and he started tugging the taxi driver's shirt and shoving his face.
Mr Lim exited the expressway and stopped at Marine Drive. Djafril then got out of the taxi and headbutted the taxi driver, causing his nose to bleed. Mr Lim called the police.
When three police officers arrived at the scene and tried to interview Djafril, he began shouting and swinging his arm wildly, prompting the officers to arrest him for disorderly behaviour. Djafril then spat on the face of Police Sergeant Mohamed Khalid Abdul Rahman.
For spitting on the face of a police officer - an action labelled a "gross disregard for public servants" by Deputy Public Prosecutor Kong Kuek Foo - Djafril could have been jailed for up to four years and fined.
For voluntarily causing hurt to a person, he could have been jailed for up to two years and fined $5,000.
