Jailed for attacks on cabby and police

A commercial diver who had too much to drink one night attacked a taxi driver, causing him to bleed in the nose, and spat on the face of a police officer.

For assaulting a public servant on duty and for voluntarily causing hurt to another person, Guntur Djafril, 30, was yesterday sentenced to two months in jail.

The court heard that Guntur had boarded the taxi driven by Mr Admen Lim Beng Yaw at a taxi stand near the Pan Pacific Hotel in the early hours of April 30.

Guntur had to be helped into the taxi by a bouncer from a nearby nightclub, where he had been drinking.

He then instructed Mr Lim to drive to Bedok North Avenue 6, an address Mr Lim said did not exist. He was then told to start driving anyway.

When the taxi was travelling along the East Coast Parkway towards Changi, Guntur began to light a cigarette.

He threw it out of the taxi when Mr Lim told him to stop smoking, only to light up a second cigarette a few minutes later.

When Mr Lim told him to stop smoking for the second time, Guntur became unhappy.

He began pulling Mr Lim's shirt and shoving his face.

Mr Lim then decided to exit the expressway, heading towards Marine Parade Road. He stopped the vehicle at Block 74, Marine Drive, where Guntur alighted.

Mr Lim was about to alight from his taxi when Guntur approached him and hit him in the nose with his forehead.

The taxi driver called the police, as his nose began to bleed.

Three police officers, including police Sergeant Mohamed Khalid Abdul Rahman, arrived and tried to talk to Guntur, who shouted and swung his right arm wildly in response. The officers then tried to arrest Guntur for disorderly behaviour.

However, he remained uncooperative. He even spat on the face of Sgt Mohamed.

For spitting on the face of a public servant, an act which Deputy Public Prosecutor Kong Kuek Foo called a "gross disregard for public servants", Guntur could have been jailed for up to four years and fined.

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

This article was first published on June 16, 2015.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.