A poor cabbie who had the interiors of his taxi ruined by a drunk passenger had to deal with more than just cleaning out a stranger’s vomit in his vehicle — he had to chase the inebriated individual to get the fare he was owed and ended up punched for the trouble.
Today, British IT manager Gareth John was fined S$4,000 after pleading guilty to voluntarily causing hurt to the taxi driver, Ng Kian Leong, on Aug 19, 2016, The Straits Times reported.
That night, Ng had picked up John, who’d been out drinking with friends at Boat Quay. The permanent resident, however, threw up in the taxi but promised to pay the S$30 cleaning fee after apologizing to the cabbie. Ng then drove to a petrol kiosk along MacPherson Road to clean up the puke.
But it was there and then that John alighted the taxi without paying the fare and tried to flag down another cab. According to the court report by ST, Ng tried to chase after John, who kept walking away. The cabbie then called the police for help.
When John managed to get another cab, Ng informed the fellow taxi driver about the situation. When that taxi left, John was said to have threatened to kill Ng if he didn’t stop what he was doing.
The 49-year-old cabbie received a punch to the chest by John when the former called the police again. The man then offered S$100 to Ng to settle the matter — money that was roundly refused.
When the police arrived, Ng eventually accepted John’s payment for the taxi fare, and the PR even paid the petrol kiosk the cleaning fee. Though he was apologetic, John’s lawyers pointed out that Ng had shouted at him and repeatedly called him an “ang moh”.
Following the incident, Ng suffered tenderness to his chest and was given two days of medical leave. Ng’s S$316 in medical expenses and loss of income was compensated by John, who expressed remorse over his actions. He could have gotten a two-year jail sentence and a S$5,000 fine for voluntarily causing hurt.
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