Woman on trial for kicking, biting police officer trying to get her off the road
Footage shows the woman asking the police officer if she had studied law and whether she knew who her husband was.
Tatiana Kuriachaia at the State Courts on Jun 19, 2023. (Photo: CNA/Javier Lim)
Lydia Lam
@LydiaLamCNA19 Jun 2023 01:57PM
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SINGAPORE: A woman went on trial on Monday (Jun 19) over an incident where she allegedly attacked a female police officer who was trying to get her off the road for her own safety.
After manoeuvring her handcuffs from behind her back to her front by moving her arms under her legs, the accused allegedly kicked the officer's stomach and later bit her arm.
Russian national Tatiana Kuriachaia, 33, claimed trial to four charges of voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant, using abusive words on a public servant and public nuisance.
The court heard that the alleged victim, Sergeant Genevlene Ho Ting En, had gone to Claymore Road with her colleagues to respond to an unrelated case of rioting on the early morning of Apr 27, 2019.
Sgt Ho, the prosecution's first witness, testified that she saw Kuriachaia sitting on a chevron marking on the road, that was between two lanes.
She asked Kuriachaia what she was doing there, and the latter responded that she was waiting for her Grab ride.
Sgt Ho said her primary concern was for Kuriachaia's safety, as she was sitting in the middle of the road.
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Body-worn police camera footage played in court showed vehicles going past Tatiana.
Sgt Ho asked Kuriachaia to move off the road to the pavement to wait for her Grab ride, but Kuriachaia responded that she was sitting in the middle of the chevron marking and that no cars could hit her.
Despite repeated advice, Kuriachaia refused to move. Sgt Ho said she felt Kuriachaia was slightly intoxicated as she kept repeating the same things and was not really listening to her.
Another three or four officers who were with Sgt Ho tried speaking to Kuriachaia, but to no avail.
The officers then warned her that if she did not comply and move off the road, they would arrest her.
THE HANDCUFFS
However, Sgt Ho said that Kuriachaia "tensed up" her arms when she tried to place the handcuffs on her.Eventually they cuffed her with her hands behind her back as per standard operating procedures, and escorted her to the police vehicle.
While the officers were placing Kuriachaia into the vehicle, Kuriachaia managed to bring her cuffed hands from the back of her body to her front.
"How was she able to manage this feat?" questioned Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Yong.
"She managed to bring her hands under her legs," said Sgt Ho.
After this, Kuriachaia kept questioning why she was being cuffed and used vulgarities, saying this was "a violation of human rights".
Sgt Ho testified that Kuriachaia then kicked her, with her feet striking the officer's hand and stomach.
Sgt Ho then shouted for more officers to help and the group re-cuffed Kuriachaia with her hands behind her back. This time, they added a second pair of handcuffs securing her arm to her seatbelt.
FOOTAGE PLAYED IN COURT
Kuriachaia was shown in footage shouting about her "f***ing injured hand" and screaming at the top of her voice.Sgt Ho said that Kuriachaia was "very agitated" during the journey to the police lock-up, shouting and demanding to know what she was arrested for.
She also demanded to know the officers' names. Sgt Ho, who was seated beside her, said Kuriachaia leaned her body into her.
When Kuriachaia leaned in a second time, Sgt Ho tried to push Kuriachaia away, and this was when Kuriachaia allegedly bit down on Sgt Ho's arm.
Sgt Ho said this went on for a few seconds, and that Kuriachaia had "no intention of letting go".
In footage played in court, Kuriachaia could be heard asking the officers if they were sure they even knew the law.
She said things like, "Of course, I'm so dangerous right", "this is against human rights" and "you know who my husband is? Unfortunately you don't know, unfortunately for you".
In one clip, she asked Sgt Ho: "Do you study? Or you just come from school? I studied law and I know this is against f***ing human rights. I studied law. Did you? Study law? What did you study? How old are you? You look like you are f***ing 18."
As a result of the bite, Sgt Ho suffered a bruise and had to go to hospital for blood tests.
Tatiana is defended by Senior Counsel Sreenivasan Narayanan, with lawyer Anil Balchandani as instructing counsel.
Under Mr Sreenivasan's questioning, Sgt Ho said she was about 20 at the time of the incident and that this was her first time in court.
She acknowledged that she had reviewed the case with her commanding officer because the defence had "some questions". These pertained to Sgt Ho's "conduct", Mr Sreenivasan said.
He questioned Sgt Ho on whether she had checked if his client had suffered an injury, after hearing her screams and shouts of pain.
Sgt Ho insisted that she had, but had found no visible signs of injury. When asked when she had done so, Sgt Ho said it was when she was placing the accused into the police vehicle.
The trial continues.
If convicted of voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant in the discharge of her duty, she could be jailed for up to seven years and fined. She cannot be caned as she is a woman.
