SINGAPORE — Recently disbarred lawyer M Ravi pleaded guilty on Wednesday (July 17) to nine charges spanning two years, including choking a paralegal at a law firm where he worked and pushing a priest at a temple. 

The 55-year-old, whose full name is Ravi Madasamy, was convicted of six charges of voluntarily causing hurt, one charge under the Protection from Harassment Act, a charge of using criminal force and a charge of public nuisance. 

His offences included using vulgarities and slapping members of the public, causing a restaurant worker to suffer a cut on the head and slapping an MRT station staff member. 

Another 10 similar charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing, which has been set down for Aug 2. 

Ravi has three previous convictions in 2004, 2009 and 2018, involving various offences such as disorderly behaviour, mischief and causing hurt by rash act.

In 2018, he was ordered to undergo 18 months’ mandatory treatment for his psychiatric condition, bipolar disorder, after he assaulted two lawyers, among other charges.

In May this year, Ravi was struck off as a lawyer after a disciplinary hearing over false statements he had made about then-president Halimah Yacob and other senior figures, as well as a separate incident where he had disrupted a court hearing.

PUSHING PRIEST AT TEMPLE, SLAPPING STRANGERS 

On Nov 22 in 2021, Ravi was at law firm KK Cheng Law LLC, where he was practising law.

He blamed a paralegal for failing to print documents for a hearing and threw a glass perfume bottle at him, hitting his right shin.

Ravi then grabbed the paralegal by his shirt, pushed his chest and choked him with both hands for around three seconds, causing him to feel breathless and have bodily pain.

The paralegal told Ravi that he had asked another paralegal to print the documents, so Ravi barged into the other paralegal’s workspace and threw a remote control at him, hitting his right wrist.

On Jan 22 in 2022, Ravi was at TheAC Boutique, a shop in Joo Chiat, when he got agitated while speaking with the salesperson who could not hear him, and shouted vulgarities at her.

A few days later on Feb 11, he was at a bookstore in People’s Park Centre when an acquaintance greeted him.

Ravi got agitated, slapped the man in the face and shouted vulgarities at him.

On July 9 last year, Ravi was at Sri Mariamman Temple in Chinatown and pushed his way to the front of a line of devotees, helping himself to the holy ash. He smeared the ash on his face while shouting and threw a plate of offerings on the floor.

When a temple priest went to retrieve some replacement offerings, Ravi stopped him, asked if the priest planned to call the police and pushed him to prevent him from leaving. 

Later that morning, he went to another part of the temple and asked loudly why there were so many foreigners present and why he needed to queue. 

Several people asked him to stop making a scene, but he started using vulgarities and was escorted out. 

Two days later while eating at a restaurant, Ravi became agitated with a staff member and pushed her with both hands, causing her to fall and hit her head on the ground. 

She realised that she was bleeding and sought assistance from her manager, who was also verbally abused by Ravi, who asked him to “return to India and Pakistan”.

The restaurant staff member was taken to the hospital by ambulance and was found to have suffered a cut on her head. She was given suturing and eight days of hospitalisation leave.

The next day, Ravi caused a scene by shouting when he was at Yio Chu Kang MRT Station, sparking calls to the police from onlookers.

When police officers engaged him, Ravi agreed to leave. However, he then began remonstrating with an SMRT operations manager and slapped him in the face, in view of the police, who arrested him.

He was charged with this offence on July 14 last year and was released on bail two weeks later. 

However, he would go on to commit another offence while on bail, in September 2023, again at Sri Mariamman Temple. 

Ravi got into arguments with workers there over the buying of saris, calling one of them a “Malaysian pariah” and slapping another in the face. 

WEIGHT GIVEN TO BIPOLAR DISORDER

The prosecution sought a sentence of 18 to 24 weeks’ jail and a fine of S$3,000 for Ravi’s offences. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPPs) Timotheus Koh and Benedict Teong argued that Ravi’s bipolar disorder should be given “no weight at all” given the “breaks in compliance” that Ravi had had with his medication and his “insight” into his condition. 

People who have bipolar disorder get erratic mood swings that go from manic energy to depression.

DPP Koh referred to an Institute of Mental Health (IMH) report dated June 28, 2022 where a doctor observed that Ravi did not take his medication and Ravi wanted to terminate his mandatory treatment order.  

The prosecution noted that Ravi is not a first-time offender and has chosen to persist in his antisocial conduct. 

Mr Eugene Thuraisingam and Mr Ng Yuan Siang from law firm Eugene Thuraisingam LLP,  who represented Ravi, sought a lighter sentence of not more than seven weeks’ jail and a fine of S$5,400 to S$5,500. 

The defence lawyers argued that some mitigating weight should be given to their client’s diagnosis, since it is “inherent in the condition” of bipolar disorder that there will be relapses. 

Mr Thuraisingam pointed to an IMH report that indicated that Ravi had attended his appointments and taken oral medications but still suffered a relapse. 

Noting that both the defence and the prosecution had agreed that the level of harm caused by Ravi’s actions was low, he added that his client was “extremely remorseful” and wanted to extend his “sincere apologies” to those he had hurt. 

In reply, DPP Koh clarified that the prosecution's position was not that Ravi was “not taking his medications at all”, but that he was not compliant with his “full medical regime”.

He added that Ravi’s bipolar disorder had been known for years, and past attempts by the courts to deal with his offending behaviour through non-custodial means, such as fines and a mandatory treatment order, did not seem to improve his behaviour.

“With the greatest of respect to Mr Ravi and the defence, Mr Ravi cannot — practically speaking — be allowed to hide behind his condition as a shield for misbehaviour,” DPP Koh added. 

For each charge of voluntarily causing hurt, Ravi could be jailed for up to three years or fined up to S$5,000, or both. 

Those who harass others using threatening, abusive or insulting words can be jailed for up to six months or fined S$5,000, or both.

For using criminal force, he could be jailed for up to three months or fined up to S$1,500, or both.

Anyone convicted of being a public nuisance can be jailed for up to three months or fined up to S$2,000, or both.