While we all don’t like it whenever our delivery order gets mixed up or damaged, but it’s still not an excuse to harass or physically threaten the riders who send it.
A man in Singapore was sentenced to eight weeks in jail after he pleaded guilty to charges of physical intimidation and using abusive words on a Grab rider who spilled his coffee order.
Got upset over spilled coffee
According to court documents, Mohammed Firdaus Bin Mohd Rafi ordered food and coffee via the Grab app at around 12am on Aug 8, 2022. Not long after, a 28-year-old rider delivered it to his doorstep and promptly left.
More than an hour later, the rider received an angry call from Firdaus at 1.15am, who accused him of “cheating his money” by spilling the coffee and leaving the scene.
He also hurled profanities at the rider, calling him “motherf***ker” during the call and threatened to clobber him if he failed to return to his house immediately.
The rider tried to soothe Firdaus by offering to buy coffee for him but the call was killed before he could get a word in.
Unsure of what Firdaus wanted, the rider turned up at his door with two types of coffee and was told by Firdaus to wait outside the door before he disappeared into the kitchen.
Man pats Grab rider’s cheek with 20cm knife
To the rider’s shock, Firdaus emerged from the kitchen holding a 20cm knife while shouting at him loudly. He also patted the knife against the rider’s cheeks several times.
This caused the rider to become deeply frightened and he kept apologising to Firdaus in an attempt to deescalate the situation.
In the end, Firdaus told the rider to “f**k off” and threw the coffee onto the floor. The rider eventually escaped and lodged a police report at 2.30am.
Coincidentally, Firdaus’ brother had filmed the entire incident and the footage was later submitted by the prosecution as evidence.
Sentenced to 8 weeks in jail
Lianhe Zaobao reported that the prosecution requested for Firdaus to be jailed for one to two months, arguing that it would act as a deterrent for others.
They also said that Firdaus had used a knife to make the threat more menacing and it proved that he had the intention to alarm the rider.
Firdaus pleaded with the court to hand him a lighter sentence, acknowledging that he was wrong to threaten the rider and said he was remorseful.
In the end, he was sentenced to eight weeks in jail, much to the distress of his wife, who cried in court as they had gotten married last week.
However, the court allowed Firdaus to begin his sentence on July 24, 2023.
Delivery riders are human too and it doesn’t hurt to be more understanding and forgiving when they make mistakes!
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