SINGAPORE — After a night of drinking, Muhammad Taleb Kishen held down a taxi driver and punched him several times, leaving the victim with a broken nose and bruises across his face, arms and chest.

The 31-year-old, who on a separate occasion also cursed a police officer for about 10 minutes, was jailed for 17 weeks on Monday (Oct 10). 

The Singaporean pleaded guilty to one charge each of voluntarily causing grievous hurt and using abusive language towards a public servant.

The court heard that on Jan 1, 2020 at about 2.30am, Taleb left Zouk, a nightclub at Clarke Quay, with 29-year-old Koh Liang Cai, Koh’s wife and other friends.

When Koh spotted a taxi along River Valley Road, he called his wife and Taleb over to the taxi and asked the taxi driver to send his wife home.

When the taxi driver refused, Koh reached through the left front passenger seat window and punched the driver.

Taleb then held the taxi driver down from the driver’s side window — allowing Koh to throw another punch at the back of the driver’s head — before Taleb began punching the driver’s face repeatedly.

After this, Taleb placed the driver in a chokehold and only released it when the police arrived.

By then, Koh had already left. Koh is set to plead guilty later this month.

The court heard that the taxi driver did not throw any punches at Taleb or Koh and did not drive away because he was afraid of injuring other people standing nearby.

Investigations found that Koh's punches caused pain to the taxi driver, while Taleb's actions had resulted in the fracture of the driver's nose, among other injuries.

The driver was given seven days of hospitalisation leave and nine days of outpatient leave. Taleb later made full restitution of S$1,101 to the driver for his medical fees.

In a separate incident on Dec 2, 2019, Taleb used abusive language for 10 minutes towards a police officer after he had been arrested. Court documents did not state why he was arrested.

This happened while a police officer at Police Cantonment Complex was processing his belongings and lodging paperwork. Taleb had been drinking before his arrest.

Lawyer Anil Singh, who acted on behalf of Taleb, said that his client is the sole breadwinner for his family and is remorseful for his actions. 

Adding that Taleb’s behaviour was “out of character”, Mr Singh said that the sentence sought by the prosecution was fair.

For voluntarily causing grievous hurt, Taleb could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined or caned.

He could have been jailed for up to a year or fined up to S$5,000, or both, for using abusive words towards a public servant.