A British man has been sentenced to three months’ jail for punching a police officer and grabbing his neck outside nightclub Zouk earlier this year. Alex Arrash Ariana, the Hong Kong-based director of a headhunting company, pleaded guilty on Monday to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt to SSGT Chen Tianxiang Ivan, reported Yahoo Singapore.
The incident, which occurred around 4am on Apr 29, started off with the 34-year-old arguing with a security manager by the entrance of the club, which was still at its Jiak Kim Street location then. A police officer approached, and was told by the security manager that the intoxicated Ariana was acting aggressively and refusing to leave Zouk even though it was closing time.
So the policeman informed SSGT Chen and another officer — who were both in the vicinity — about the squabble. Ariana then left the club and attempted to enter an ambulance that was parked outside Zouk. While one of the officers prevented him from doing so, SSGT Chen asked Ariana to move to the side, but instead, Ariana pushed him away and grabbed his left wrist.
According to Yahoo Singapore, that’s when the officers tried to arrest Ariana, but he didn’t go down without a fight. Before they could pin him down, he seized SSGT Chen by the neck and punched him above his left eye.
Finally, four officers managed to handcuff Ariana, who continued to resist violently and yell expletives and threats at the policemen. A separate harassment charge for uttering expletives at SSGT Chen was also taken into consideration.
Ariana later confessed that he had consumed about six to eight cocktails that night. As for SSGT Chen, he was sent to the hospital with swelling and bruising around his left eye, tenderness in his neck area and abrasions over his left elbow.
Ariana ended up suspended by his company in June, and terminated from his position the next month. His lawyer said that he had not committed any offence before the incident at Zouk.
For his offences, he could have been jailed for up to seven years, or fined, or caned.
