SINGAPORE — In a state of intoxication, a man held onto a bus driver’s arm to restrain him, while another man slapped, punched and hit the driver’s head and face multiple times.
The assault happened on the bus in the morning of Nov 2, after Aziz Khan Sher Khan, 61, and another man were told to wear their masks properly after boarding the vehicle at Selarang Halfway House.
Investigations revealed they had been drinking alcohol prior to the incident, and they continued drinking from their cans of beer while on the bus.
For voluntarily causing grievous hurt with common intention, Aziz Khan was sentenced to 10 months' jail on Wednesday (Dec 29), with an additional 24 days' enhanced imprisonment.
After the driver, who is an employee of Go-Ahead Singapore, asked the two men to put on their masks properly, he returned to his seat and reported the matter to the control room.
The driver was also advised to stop the bus and lock the doors as a police report had been made.
After realising that the bus was eventually stopped along Loyang Avenue, both men got angry and confronted the driver, who was seated in the driver’s seat.
Aziz Khan also hurled vulgarities at the driver, and shouted at him to open the doors.
When the driver refused to do so, Aziz Khan spoke to him in a threatening manner and grabbed him by his shirt before returning to his seat.
However, the other man, Ahmad Robinson, 70, remained at the driver’s cabin area where a fight broke out. When the driver attempted to make a phone call, Ahmad knocked the phone out of his hand.
At this time, Aziz Khan had joined in the fight. He reached over the driver’s cabin door to restrain the driver and snatched his phone away.
Ahmad slapped, punched and hit the victim’s head and face multiple times, hitting the driver’s nose in the process, while Aziz Khan assisted by holding onto the driver’s left arm to restrain him.
Aziz Khan also took the driver’s wallet and put it in his pants.
In the midst of the assault, one of the buttons in the driver’s cabin area was accidentally pressed, causing the bus doors to open. Both men fled immediately.
The assault lasted for 12 minutes, according to footage captured on the bus’ closed-circuit television footage.
The driver, who was conscious when taken to the hospital, sustained a fracture on the tip of his nasal bone as well as tenderness over his left lower chest.
For Aziz Khan’s involvement in the assault, the prosecution sought for 12 to 18 months' jail with an enhanced sentence of 24 days for several aggravating factors.
These factors included that the driver was a vulnerable frontline worker and the assault had caused disruption to general commuters.
Furthermore, both men were “aggressors who persistently assaulted the victim, who did not retaliate”, according to court documents.
The court heard that Aziz Khan had previously been charged for similar offences.
In 2003, Aziz Khan was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment for assaulting or using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty. He was then given three months’ imprisonment in 2009 for voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from duty.
And in May 2021, he was sentenced to a week in jail for affray in breach of his conditional remission order.
For voluntarily causing grievous hurt with common intention, Aziz Khan could have been imprisoned up to 5 years, fined up to S$10,000, or both.
Ahmad's case is pending. A warrant to arrest him was issued earlier this month after he failed to turn up in court. CNA
https://www.todayonline.com/singapo...us-driver-refusing-wear-mask-properly-1780541
