A Japanese expat who had a little too much to drink one night got slapped with a $6,000 fine for one violently intoxicated night in which he caused a noisy ruckus at City Hall MRT station.
Oh, and he also slapped three separate policemen who were trying to help him.
27-year-old Masano Takeshi pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting a public servant, as well as behaving in an annoying manner whilst drunk in a public place, The Straits Times reports.
A visibly inebriated Takeshi was found at City Hall MRT station on Sep 10 last year, where he was seen struggling with another person. Stumbling and yelling incoherently in Japanese, the man was taken to a first aid room at the station by the station manager.
15 minutes later, officers from the police’s Public Transport Security Command arrived and tried to calm him down. Takeshi however tried to stand up and promptly lost his balance and fell to the ground.
In the commotion, he slapped a police officer twice — one on each cheek. Ten minutes later, he slapped another officer on his right cheek.
He tried to stand up but fell again, this time hitting his head on a bed frame. Already bleeding at the back of his head, the officers helped Takeshi up and sat him on a chair before using a bandage to apply pressure on the wound to help stop the gushing blood.
When an officer tried to ask him about his condition, he slapped the third officer’s face several times.
In court, Takeshi’s lawyer argued that the assaults were committed impulsively, while he was bleeding and in pain too. It was revealed that he had even written letters of apology to the officers, and even converted to Islam in an effort to turn over a new leaf. Ironically enough, both his parents are police officers in Japan.
“If the prosecution had not asked for a fine, I would have sent him to two days in jail for him to sober up, pardon the pun,” District Judge Low Wee Ping said.
