Jail for ex-cabby who threw drink can at car

In 2012, he assaulted a teenager in a road rage incident, for which he was charged.

But that did not deter the road bully from terrorising another person last month.

In a fit of rage, Wayne Lim Yen Yew, 32, then an ad hoc relief cabby with SMRT, hurled a soft drink can and at least two coins at a car driven by Mr Shaun Lim Chin Seng, 36, on Feb 1.

His actions were caught by his victim's in-car front and rear cameras and 23 video clips of the incident, with each cliplasting about a minute, were uploaded on YouTube.

Lim, who was fired by SMRT on Feb 2 over the incident, was jailed for four weeks yesterday after pleading guilty to one count each of performing a rash act for last month's incident and voluntarily causing hurt for the 2012 attack.

A dangerous driving charge in last month's incident was taken into consideration during sentencing.

HIT BOY

On Aug 5, 2012, Lim, who was a car salesman at the time, assaulted student Soo Qian Hua, then 17, for filming him while he was having a dispute with the boy's father, Mr Soo Kok Wing.

Mr Soo, 61, had been driving into an empty lot at a carpark near Block 630, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4, at around 10.20am when Lim overtook him and stopped his car in front of Mr Soo's vehicle.

He berated Mr Soo with vulgarities, stepped out and opened Mr Soo's car door.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Claire Poh said that Qian Hua took out his iPhone to record the incident as he was worried that something might happen to his father.

When Lim saw what the boy was doing, he tried to snatch the phone. When he failed to do so, he punched Qian Hua on the right side of his face.

Mr Soo called the police and his son was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital where he was found to have some tenderness on his jaw. He was given two days of medical leave.

On Feb 1, Mr Lim was driving on the second lane of the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway tunnel towards East Coast Parkway at around 5.40pm when Lim's taxi tailgated him.

Lim then cut into the first lane and travelled side by side with his victim.

He sped up seconds later and swerved his taxi slightly to the left, cutting into Mr Lim's path.

Distressed by the near collision, Mr Lim filtered into the first lane behind the taxi and flicked on his high beam lights.

Lim later filtered to the third lane, stopped his taxi and wound down his window.

To avoid a confrontation, Mr Lim decided to just drive past him, but Lim gave chase and threw a can that hit the bumper of Mr Lim's car.

As they drove beside each other, Mr Lim asked him why he had done that and Lim responded with Hokkien vulgarities.

As Mr Lim called the police, Lim threw the coins at his car.

DPP Poh said the car had small dents and scratches on its fender, door and bumper.

The estimated repair cost was $700, the court heard.

Lim's lawyer, Mr Anil Singh, told the court in mitigation that his client was a first-time offender.

He said Lim had arranged to make full compensation to his victims.

For voluntarily causing hurt, he could have been jailed up to two years and fined $5,000.

For performing a rash act, he could have been jailed up to six months and fined up to $2,500.

This article was first published on March 5, 2015.
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