A Singaporean man was sent to jail and slapped with a fine after he pleaded guilty to charges of criminal force and public nuisance.
His crime? Tapping his Ez-Link card on the face of the bus driver after he became upset over missing his stop.
For the uninitiated, the Ez-Link card is a contactless smart card used primarily for public transportation and retail payments in Singapore, akin to the Touch ‘n Go (TnG) card used in Malaysia.
Drank 8 bottles of beer at kopitiam
According to a report by CNA, the man named Wilson Loh went to a coffee shop in Commonwealth on March 18, where he drank eight bottles of beer since 12pm.
At around 6pm, he boarded bus service 195 and was looking to get off at the next stop. However, he didn’t do so when the bus arrived at the stop and opened its doors for passengers to alight and board.
SG man taps bus driver’s face with smart card
When the bus left the stop, Loh approached bus driver Yin Xusheng and berated him for not allowing him to alight the bus.
In response, Yin told Loh that he did open the doors for him to get off the bus. However, this only seemed to irritate Loh and he proceeded to tap his Ez-Link card on Yin’s face. He also caused a commotion on the bus, which annoyed other passengers.
Yin then came to the next stop at 7pm and tried to talk things out with Loh, but the latter continued to raise hell, prompting an elderly passenger to intervene.
Loh then shoved the elderly man’s hand away, causing him to drop his phone. Thankfully, it wasn’t damaged. Loh was later arrested by police at 8.20pm.
Pleaded guilty in court
Prosecutors told the court that Loh’s act of tapping his Ez-Link card on Yin’s face was an act of criminal force, which was intended to cause annoyance and done without grave or sudden provocation.
In mitigation, Loh claimed he was “agitated” as someone was filming him using a handphone. However, the judge disagreed, saying the incident was caused by his intoxication.
When Loh admitted that was the case, the judge advised him to control his drinking, to which Loh agreed and added he was currently undergoing anger management sessions.
He later pleaded guilty to three charges — one of public nuisance and two of criminal force, with a fourth charge being taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court sentenced Loh to five weeks in prison and issued a S$1,500 (approx. RM4,900) fine.
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