Man jailed, fined for slapping police officer

SINGAPORE — Unhappy that he was asked to step out of the train for a spot check, 27-year-old Muhammad Farmi Sudin hurled vulgarities at a police officer.

He went on to slap Mr Muhammad Nabeel Rahman, a Special Constabulary Corporal attached to the Singapore Police Force’s Transport Command, twice across the left cheek and threatened to hit him during the incident which occurred on Nov 8 last year.

At about 7pm that day, Corporal Nabeel, 21, had been patrolling the train from Buona Vista MRT station, when he noticed Farmi and his brother behaving suspiciously.

The officer asked to check them, but Farmi was displeased that this was being done in front of other commuters and raised his voice against Corporal Nabeel.

Hoping to keep the commotion down, the officer requested both brothers to alight at Pasir Panjang MRT Station. He was struck by Farmi soon after they stepped out of the train.

On Thursday, Farmi was sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail and fined S$4,000 for this, among other offences.

The court heard that Farmi, a contract mover, had also impersonated a Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) officer in May last year.

While at a chalet at East Coast Park on May 4, Farmi and two other friends — Eunice Ng Yan Jing, 19, and Muhammad Taufiq Djumadi, 26 — had decided to buy cigarettes.

It was about 5am then, and none of the shops were opened. Returning to the chalet, the trio ran into a group of four men at the park.

Farmi then approached them and introduced himself as a CNB officer. He requested to see their identification cards, and also demanded cigarettes.

At one point, Eunice tried to take a bottle of wine from the group as an “exhibit”.

In the midst of asking for identification, Farmi slapped one of the men. He and his friends left only when they heard the man calling the police.

Speaking in court through an interpreter, Farmi asked District Judge Luke Tan for another chance.

“I know I was wrong. I would like to apologise because I’ve inconvenienced many others,” he said.

His lawyer Christopher Sim said Farmi came from a broken family, as his parents had divorced when he was five.

For using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of duty, Farmi could have been fined, jailed up to four years, or both.

For impersonating a public servant, he could have been fined, jailed up to two years, or both.