A PHONE conversation with his mother triggered off a series of events which landed Mr Liu Tie in the A&E with a swollen eye and scratches on his neck.
He was accused of talking too loudly by a fellow bus passenger who then beat him up.
Mr Liu, a China national working as a waiter at the Beng Thin Hoon Kee Restaurant in OCBC Centre, had made the call to his mother in Jilin, China, after he finished work on Sunday night.
Said Mr Liu, 22, in Mandarin: 'I was talking to my mum when I boarded bus number 145 from Boat Quay.'
He said the bus had about 20 people in it.
Soon after he sat down, he claimed that a man sitting some rows behind him told him aggressively to keep his voice down.
'I was still talking to my mother. So I lowered my voice. She kept asking me what was happening. I didn't want to worry her, so I told her it was all right,' he said.
After he finished the conversation with his mother, he turned to look at the man.
'He was still scolding me, gesturing with his hands and feet. He made his hand into the shape of a gun and pointed at me. Then he kicked his legs about, in a threatening manner,' said Mr Liu.
He claimed the man then rushed over and started beating him up.
'He just came at me, held my neck and rained blows down the right side of my face,' he said.
No one on the bus stepped forward to help, he claimed.
When the bus stopped at a bus-stop along Victoria Street, the man was still hitting him.
'My attacker was holding my neck, and banging my head against the bus seats,' said Mr Liu.
He shouted for help and for someone to call the police.
'A woman in the crowd at the bus-stop shouted back that she had called 999,' said Mr Liu.
That was when Mr Liu's assailant tried to get away.
'He ran towards the opened door at the back of the bus. But I didn't want him to get away. So I ran after him and grabbed his arm,' said Mr Liu.
Three young men boarded the bus to help Mr Liu.
'After I told them what happened, one of them said to the man who beat me, 'The sign in the bus says no smoking, no eating, no littering, but where does it say no talking on the phone?' said Mr Liu.
Another man also boarded the bus to help Mr Liu apprehend his attacker until the police arrived.
'An ambulance arrived first and while the paramedics were tending to me, the police arrived,' said Mr Liu.
He was sent to the A&E at Singapore General Hospital.
ATTACKED AGAIN AT HOSPITAL
'At the hospital, I saw my assailant. He also came to the hospital because he said his arm hurt. When he saw me, he made a lunge for me again, in front of all seven or eight policemen,' said Mr Liu.
The police managed to restrain him.
After his injuries were treated, Mr Liu went to the Central Police Station to give another statement.
'My elder brother, who also works here, came to the hospital to help me. He was very upset about what happened,' said Mr Liu.
This is the first time that the brothers had encountered a violent incident since coming to work here.
Mr Liu's elder brother, 28, had come here last June to work as a chef.
Mr Liu arrived last December.
This article was first published in The New Paper on 28th May 2008
