He threw hot soup at cabby

He had only $5 on him when the elderly cabby dropped him off at Clementi Avenue 1 at around 10pm on March 9, 2014.

Mohamed Sultan Mohamed Shariff's taxi fare to his home was $6.70.

So he gave cabby Teng Ah Bah, 70, the $5 and said he would return with the balance while Mr Teng waited at the block's unloading bay.

However, Mohamed Sultan, who had been drinking earlier, returned a few minutes later in anger.

He kicked the front passenger door of the taxi a few times and then returned to throw a plastic bag of hot mutton soup at Mr Teng's head.

The contents of the bag splashed onto Mr Teng's neck and upper back, resulting in epidermal burns to 2 per cent of his body surface area.

Yesterday, Mohamed Sultan, 41, was sentenced to five months' jail after pleading guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to the cabby.

Mr Teng, who had shouted for patrons of a nearby coffee shop to call the police after his taxi door was kicked, received medical attention at the National University Hospital.

MEDICAL LEAVE

He was given three days' medical leave.

Mohamed Sultan's jail term was more than the two to three months imprisonment as recommended by Deputy Public Prosecutor Jason Nim.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur said: "You (Mohamed Sultan) didn't come before me with a clean record.

"You are deserving, in my judgment, a slightly longer sentence."

The court learnt that Mohamed Sultan had antecedents of using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty and voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty.

In his address on the sentence, DPP Nim said: "This was a case of violence against public transport workers occurring at night where the starting point is a custodial term of around four weeks.

"The accused had targeted a vulnerable part of the body (head) and caused hurt to the neck."

Other aggravating factors included Mohamed Sultan being under the influence of alcohol and his attack on an elderly person

This article was first published on Feb 12, 2016.
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