Man jailed over string of offences, including assault
[video=youtube;HXWpNHIaxCw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXWpNHIaxCw [/video]
Published Jan 5, 2016, 5:00 am SGT
Elena Chong
Court Correspondent
The year just past was an eventful one for Ang Gim Cheong - and yesterday, he paid the price for it.
In February last year, along with his father, brother and three others, he attacked a group of men at a coffee shop after a dispute over a previous incident.
Less than two months later in April, Ang was involved in a fatal traffic accident. His tipper truck hit a cyclist at the driveway into a construction site in Ang Mo Kio.
Then, in November, the 38-year-old was arrested at his home in Rivervale Crescent for taking methamphetamine or Ice.
Yesterday, he pleaded guilty to four of six charges and was sentenced to a total of 14 months' jail, and banned from driving for five years.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Goh Yi Ling told the court that Ang and his brother, Ang Ghim Hua, 40, had quarrelled with a group of regular customers at a coffee shop at Block 198 Punggol Field on Feb 26 last year. A witness saw the brothers acting in an aggressive manner towards them.
Ang told his father about the confrontation and the 61-year-old then proceeded to the coffee shop with two others. A sixth co-accused also joined Ang and his brother as they attacked the victims.
The witness took a video of Ang's group punching and kicking the victims. Ang also used an extendable baton to hit one of them.
The group fled upon hearing a police siren.
Ang's co-accused have each been fined between $2,000 and $4,000 for being members of an unlawful assembly.
In the traffic accident, DPP Goh said Ang was driving the tipper truck on April 17 when he failed to keep a proper lookout while turning into the worksite. He hit Mr Saad Yusof, 57, who was then cycling across the driveway.
Ang failed to notice Mr Saad or the impact during the collision and continued to drive, running over the cyclist and dragging him for a short distance before Mr Saad was dislodged from his undercarriage.
Ang came to a stop only after travelling more than 50m from the impact site, when he was alerted to the accident.
Mr Saad was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after.
District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said Ang not only played a "leading role'' in the coffee-shop attack, but also used a baton to hurt a victim.
As the driver of a heavy vehicle, the judge said Ang should have exercised caution and care since his view was somewhat obstructed.
He also took into account Ang's traffic antecedents and found that his negligence level was high.
