Two men plead guilty to attacking bus driver

SINGAPORE: Two men have pleaded guilty to attacking a SBS Transit bus driver and smashing empty beer bottles at the bus windscreen.

Sin Teck Hock, 46, and You Yee Chong, 41, committed the offences on November 9 last year, along Hougang Avenue 1.

Their acts were captured on multiple cameras on the bus and played in court on Wednesday.

The four—minute clip recorded the chronology of the incident.

At about 10.55pm, 36—year—old bus driver John Achin drove bus service 87 to Hougang Avenue 1.

But the bus couldn’t enter the bus bay as a lorry had been parked at the entrance.

He then sounded the horn.

Sin, who was in the driver’s seat of the lorry, got out to confront Mr John. He rapped the windscreen of the bus and challenged Mr John to alight.

Mr John ignored Sin, who then went to a nearby coffee shop to take a crate of empty beer bottles.

On seeing that, You joined Sin and took turns to throw the bottles at the windscreen of the bus.

Mr John then urged his passengers to move to the upper deck of the bus for their safety. There were about 20 passengers on board.

The two then forced their way into the bus and started punching and kicking Mr John on his head and body.

Just then, two policemen who were in the area rushed to the scene.

One of the officers, Sergeant Ignatius Lim, warned Sin and You to stop the bashing.

Sin then approached Sergeant Lim and placed his hand on Sergeant Lim’s shoulder, while You continued beating Mr John.

You stopped only after the other policeman, Staff Sergeant Mohn Firdhaus pulled him away.

Mr John suffered head injury and had a three—centimetre bruise on his arm.

The court heard Sin and You had paid SBS S$3,000 for the damage.

Discussion is ongoing with regard to Mr John’s medical compensation.

A Health Sciences Authority report showed Sin and You had alcohol traces in their blood, hours after their arrest.

The court heard Sin had previous convictions, including robbery in 1991, cheating in 1996 and armed robbery in 1998.

For damaging the bus, they face a maximum jail term of two years and a fine.

For hurting Mr John, they face up to two years’ jail and a S$5,000—fine.

For obstructing a police officer’s duty, Sin faces up to three months’ jail and a S$2,500—fine.

Sin and You are currently on a bail of S$5,000 and S$4,000 respectively.

Their case will be heard again on November 20.

— CNA/fa