Minister Shanmugam calls for tougher measures on those that hurt public servants

A 25-year-old man who pushed a policewoman’s head to the ground and kicked her as she lay on the ground, causing her to blackout. The man, Albin Lim, was jailed for 10 weeks after he pleaded guilty to one charge of causing hurt to a public servant on 2 May.

The policewoman, Corporal Ammy Shazwina Rizuan Ong, and her partner responded to a taxi driver who reported about his hostile passengers.  Albin got violent with the policewoman after she asked him for his particulars. He grabbed and pushed her to the ground. He then kicked her lower back, causing her to collapse and suffer a blackout.

Minister for Home Affairs, Mr K Shanmugam, has condemned the attacks on the policewoman. He said that he had asked his Ministry to relook at the legislation, to consider whether this is adequate. The maximum sentence for the offence of causing hurt to a public servant is a jail term of up to seven years and/or fine and caning. 

“I have said to MHA that anyone who attacks a uniformed officer should learn a lesson, which he will never forget; and it should be enough of a deterrence to others,” Mr Shanmugam said. 

The Home Affairs Minister in calling the public to fully support the men and women in blue, said that there were 344 cases of his Ministry’s officers suffering physical and verbal abuse last year. There were 328 such abuse cases reported in the first 8 months of this year.