Man who tried to use stun gun on cop charged

Sivakandesh, who goes by only one name, was charged in court on Wednesday (Jan 11) with attempting to voluntarily cause hurt to a police officer. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - A man who allegedly tried to use a stun device on a policeman on Tuesday (Jan 10) was charged in court on Wednesday with attempting to voluntarily cause hurt to the officer.

Sivakandesh, 23, who goes by only one name, is accused of committing the offence at an open car park in front of Block 624, Yishun Ring Road, at about 12.05pm that day.

He also faces two other charges - one count each of theft and being in possession of a stun gun without authorisation.

According to court documents, he allegedly stole a pair of sunglasses worth $150 and a green purse containing $87.30 in cash from a car at the car park on Tuesday afternoon.

He allegedly had the stun gun in his possession at the void deck of Block 624.

His alleged accomplice, Naethan Vinod Mahendran, 20, was charged with one count of theft on Thursday.

He is accused of working with Sivakandesh to steal the purse and the sunglasses from the car.

Both men are now remanded at Ang Mo Kio Police Division.

Sivakandesh will be back in court on Jan 18 while Naethan Vinod will appear the next day.

Last year, Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam called for a relook of penalties for those who assault uniformed officers.

He has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to relook the legislation surrounding such cases to see if the penalties are adequate.

In a Facebook post on Dec 16 last year, he said there were 344 reported cases of Home Team officers suffering physical and verbal abuse while on duty in 2015.

Last year, there were 328 of such cases up to August.

Under the Arms and Explosive Act, anyone found guilty of unlawful possession of arms without a licence can be fined up to $5,000 and jailed up to three years.

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