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A DOCTORAL student from the National University of Singapore was spared a jail term for road rage yesterday, after the High Court dismissed an appeal by the prosecution.
Appeal judge V.K. Rajah said the $4,000 fine handed down by a district court to Mohamed Feroz Mohammed Omar, 32, in July was not manifestly inadequate.
The judge said that while the courts take a serious stance against road rage, not every case warrants a jail term.
He noted that the injuries that Mohamed Feroz had caused to the other motorist, Mr Charles Wong Kia Choon, were minor.
The incident, at the junction of Rochor Road and Victoria Street, happened in November 2008.
Mohamed Feroz swerved his car into Mr Wong’s lane, forcing the latter to brake. Mr Wong sounded his horn and followed him.
When they stopped at a traffic light junction near Albert Complex, Mr Wong told Mohamed Feroz that he drove recklessly and had nearly caused an accident.
The two men began quarrelling and gesticulating at each other. Mr Wong called Mohamed Feroz “scum”, and Mohamed Feroz hit him.
After a three-day trial, Mohamed Feroz was convicted. He was fined $4,000 and ordered to pay compensation of $1,000 to Mr Wong.
He paid both, but Mr Wong refused to accept the compensation.
The prosecution appealed against the fine, arguing that it was too lenient.
Yesterday, Deputy Public Prosecutor G. Kannan pointed out that previous road rage offenders in similar situations had been jailed.
But Mohamed Feroz’s lawyer, Mr Subhas Anandan, argued that the $4,000 fine was sufficient as a deterrent.
This was not a “classic road rage case” in which the offender deliberately trails the victim and punches him without provocation, he said.
Mr Anandan pointed out that while the normal sentence was a jail term, each case turned on its own facts.
And in this case, he argued, jail was not appropriate given the minor injuries suffered by the victim and that the assault was the result of provocation.
The court heard that Mr Wong suffered a bruise on his left cheek, a wound inside his lower lip and tenderness over his upper back.
But there were no pictures of the injuries, nor were measurements taken of the wounds.
