Judge asks why convicted bouncer still had licence

When sentencing a bouncer on Thursday for injuring a patron, the judge said it was "mystifying" that the police did not revoke the security licence of one of his accomplices after he was convicted of assaulting three guests two years ago.

Ahmad Zaki Mohd Said, 35, was convicted on Oct 8 after an eight-day trial, and was sentenced to two months' jail on Thursday. He is appealing against his conviction and sentence.

Two other bouncers, Firdauz Ismail, 26, and Iskandar Sanip, 31, were convicted at the same trial and handed jail sentences earlier.

The three had assaulted crane operator Chee Thin Kam, 30, so viciously that they left a shoe print on his face.

The attack took place around 3am on Feb 23 last year outside the Powerhouse club in St James Power Station after Mr Chee was escorted out for smoking inside the club and shouting vulgarities at Firdauz and Ahmad Zaki.

The judge said: "This court has never seen a shoe print mark on a victim's face... ever."

In mitigation, defence counsel V. Ramesh said the police have suspended Ahmad Zaki's security officer licence and may now bar him completely from security work.

District Judge Low Wee Ping then said: "The court is comforted to know that bouncers have to be licensed by police but is curious that Firdauz continued to be licensed although he had been convicted in 2011 of beating up three patrons at the same club."

He said this could be an "oversight" by the police and added that it was a matter of public interest why Firdauz's licence was not revoked.

In reply to media queries, police spokesman Cho Kai Li said the licences of all three bouncers, including Firdauz, have been revoked.

She said: "The police take a serious view of offences committed by licensed security officers when they are on duty."

Earlier this month, Firdauz received the stiffest sentence among the trio, of three months' jail, as he had a similar conviction two years ago, for which he was fined $2,000.

Iskandar was jailed for three weeks. For assaulting Mr Chee, the trio could each have been jailed for up to two years and fined up to $5,000.

Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.