Man who challenged policeman to shoot him jailed for disorderly behaviour
Ho Wee Kee was jailed for eight months after he pleaded guilty to a count of disorderly behaviour and to a separate charge of causing grievous hurt.
[video=youtube;qnUe4Gp_Gdw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnUe4Gp_Gdw[/video]
Published 8 hours ago
Amir Hussain
SINGAPORE - An aggressive crowd of up to 100 people in a Geylang back lane forced a policeman to point his service revolver at them for his safety in July last year, a court heard.
But a 52-year-old man, who was undeterred, challenged the officer to shoot him.
On Monday (April 4), Ho Wee Kee was jailed for eight months after he pleaded guilty to a count of disorderly behaviour and to a separate charge of causing grievous hurt. He admitted to another count of causing hurt, which was taken into consideration in sentencing.
A district court heard that at about 9.45pm on July 24, five policemen from the Geylang Neighbourhood Police Centre, who were on anti-vice duties, saw an 18-year-old promoting a game of 'Si Gor Luck' at a makeshift gaming table in the back lane between Lorong 14 and Lorong 16 Geylang. They had to use force to handcuff the teenager, as he resisted arrest and tried to flee.
While the officers were doing so, a crowd of about 80-100 people gathered. They became agitated, and shouted at the policemen to release the teenager.
The crowd then moved towards the officers while shouting vulgarities and gesticulating aggressively. One man flipped over a gaming table, which the officers were standing behind with the teen, while another man took the metal table stand and waved it at the policemen.
The officers continued retreating until they were backed-up against a wall. Fearing for their safety, a sergeant drew his service revolver and pointed it at the crowd. His finger was not on the trigger and he only pointed the gun's laser at the crowd.
This prompted the people to step back but Ho, who was in the crowd, confronted the officer. The policeman then kept his revolver.
Shortly after, more policemen arrived and dispersed the crowd. The incident was partially captured on closed-circuit television cameras.
In November 20, 2014, Ho also assaulted two men at a coffeeshop in Lorong 18 Geylang.
At about 5.30 am, a 31-year-old man accidentally bumped into Ho's friend, sparking off a quarrel between the two.
Ho got agitated and picked up two beer bottles. He smashed one on the man's head, knocking him to the floor unconscious and causing him a broken nose.
Ho smashed the other bottle over a 21-year-old friend of the victim, who went over to help him.
Ho and four to five friends then kicked and punched the two men, who managed to flee and call police. Ho and his friends fled before police arrived.
District Judge Michelle Yap jailed Ho for six months on his charge of causing grievous hurt, and for two months on his count of disorderly behaviour. She ordered both sentences to run consecutively, backdated to his date of remand on March 14.
For causing grievous hurt, Ho, who has a string of convictions for affray and assault dating back to the 1980s, among others, could have been jailed for 10 years and fined or caned. For behaving in a disorderly manner, on a second or subsequent conviction, he could have been jailed for a year and fined $5,000.
