Man who hurt police gets probation
Published May 14, 2016, 5:00 am SGT
Rachel Chia
An allegedly suicidal baker who said he wanted to jump from a 12th-storey window attacked two police officers and an ambulance medic sent to help him.
Dhaniell Elogo, 20, was sentenced to 18 months' probation and 130 hours of community service yesterday on a charge of voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant. He had two similar charges taken into consideration.
The Filipino's parents were also ordered to sign a $10,000 bond to ensure his good behaviour. His stepfather is Singaporean, while his mother is a permanent resident. Elogo relocated to Singapore in 2014 after finishing his college- level exams.
Court documents stated that at 10pm on Nov 17 last year, Elogo was drinking alcohol at his home in Chai Chee Drive. At about 2am, he started breaking the toilet window panels and tried to pull himself up to the window, shouting that he wanted to kill himself.
His stepfather called the police.
When officers tried to take Elogo out of the toilet, he broke free, punching one of the officers on the cheek and kicking him in the thigh. He kicked another officer in the groin area.
Elogo, who works for BreadTalk, also admitted to kicking a medic in the head while being taken by ambulance to Changi General Hospital after his arrest.
In mitigation, Elogo's lawyer N. Sudha Nair said her client was suffering from depression, as he had trouble adjusting to life here and his Filipino girlfriend had broken up with him shortly before the incident.
District Judge Lee Poh Choo noted that Elogo was lucky that the prosecution sought only a probational sentence, and warned him that he would be re-sentenced as an adult if he breached any of his probational conditions.
Elogo could have been jailed for up to seven years, fined, caned or been given a combined punishment.
Rachel Chia
