A food deliveryman was sentenced to six weeks in prison and a fine of $2,000 for using abusive words and another charge of mischief. Two other charges were considered in sentencing. The deliveryman was dissatisfied with a taxi driver for overtaking and sounding the horn at him.
The viral road rage incident happened in October last year. The 31-year-old defendant, Joel Tan Qing Wei, was a food delivery driver for GrabFood at the time. When he was delivering food in the area of Keat Hong Close, he met a 55-year-old taxi driver, who saw that he was riding his motorcycle very slowly. So he overtook Tan and sounded his horn at him. The defendant was dissatisfied and followed the taxi.
Tan shouted a Hokkien expletive at the cabby. The taxi driver turned into the car park and into the rubbish bin centre, intending to reverse out. He checked that there was no one behind his taxi before reversing. However, the cabby heard a bang and realised that he had collided with Tan’s motorcycle.
The defendant not only swore at the taxi driver, but also ripped off the wiper of the rear window of the taxi, smashed the window of the taxi, and hit the body and window of the taxi with a safety helmet. The taxi was carrying a couple and their 18-month-old child.
The defendant’s actions lasted for more than four minutes, and the process was filmed by taxi passengers and nearby residents, and the video went viral on social media.
After attacking the taxi, the accused left on a motorcycle before police arrived, but he was arrested two days after the incident.
It cost S$9,651.40 to repair the damage to the taxi. Tan made full restitution. Tan’s lawyer asked for leniency, saying his client was extremely remorseful and had cooperated.
The judge said that such “thuggish and appalling” behaviour had no place on the roads.
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