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Chicken rice restaurant boss fined for hurling vulgarity at cop after drunken dispute with cabby

SINGAPORE — A chicken rice restaurant owner, who previously made headlines for flaunting S$1,000 notes at a taxi driver, was fined by a district court on Tuesday (June 16) for a separate incident involving another cabby and a police officer.

Gary Lim Kian Liang, 39, was fined S$2,500 after he pleaded guilty to one charge of using abusive words on a public servant.

Gary Lim Kian Liang, 39, was fined S$2,500 after he pleaded guilty to one charge of using abusive words on a public servant.

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SINGAPORE — A chicken rice restaurant owner, who previously made headlines for flaunting S$1,000 notes at a taxi driver, was fined by a district court on Tuesday (June 16) for a separate incident involving another cabby and a police officer.

Gary Lim Kian Liang was fined S$2,500 after he pleaded guilty to one charge of using abusive words on a public servant.

Another charge of behaving in a disorderly manner by shouting aggressively and repeatedly at police officers was taken into consideration for the 39-year-old’s sentencing.

The court heard that Lim, who owns the chicken rice restaurants Yeo Keng Nam in Braddell Road and The Yang's Traditional Hainanese Chicken Rice in Serangoon Road, had fallen asleep in a taxi in the wee hours of May 3 last year.

State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) M Mariyappan said that the taxi driver had been mired in a dispute with Lim after arriving at the latter’s destination at Potong Pasir.

Investigations later revealed that Lim had become agitated when the taxi driver woke him up to ask for payment. 

Two police officers on patrol were dispatched to attend to the incident, where they found Lim to be reeking of alcohol when they arrived at around 1am.

SPO Mariyappan said that Lim was uncooperative when the officers tried to interview him.

Lim had also stood at the centre of a road and started shouting at the top of his voice.

As he had refused to calm down, even after he was repeatedly warned, the officers decided to place him under arrest.

As one of the officers was about to do so, Lim uttered a vulgarity that referenced the officer’s mother.

Lim told the court on Tuesday that he got agitated, as he claimed that the taxi driver was very rude to him.

While it was not stated how much Lim’s taxi ride cost, he said that he eventually paid the taxi driver S$20. Lim’s mother had even given the driver an extra S$50.

When District Judge Eddy Tham asked Lim if he had reflected and thought about how he could avoid such a problem in the future, Lim replied to say that he had.

“Don’t take taxi lor,” said Lim, who was unrepresented and appeared uninterested during the hearing. He responded to District Judge Tham several times with grunts. 

In response, the judge retorted that if that was Lim’s answer, he had “totally missed the point”.

“A lot of people take taxis, but they are not in court before me today,” said District Judge Tham. 

He said that Lim’s drinking appeared to be the cause of the problem, and if Lim had been sober, he would not have reacted the way he did. 

Lim told the judge that he has since stopped drinking.

“If you don’t learn your lesson now, there’s a likelihood you will appear here again,” warned District Judge Tham.

FLASHED S$1,000 NOTES AT ANOTHER CABBY

In a separate incident on April 29, 2017, Lim was caught on camera mocking a taxi driver.

In a two-minute video that went viral, Lim appeared drunk and was seen blocking the taxi driver from closing his door.

"Look, I have so much money, I can't control myself," Lim said in Mandarin, before he proceeded to count the money — which included S$1,000 notes — in front of the driver.

Lim went on to tell the driver that he "cannot do big things" because of his profession. 

Lim had tried to pay for his S$12.45 fare with a S$1,000 note at that time. Previous media reports on the incident said he claimed that he was drunk at the time and unaware of what he was doing. 

Several days after the incident, Lim tried to make amends after he was widely criticised for his actions and his identity as a restaurateur was revealed. 

Lim had apologised to the driver he mocked, and pledged to give 100 packets of chicken rice to taxi drivers on May 2, 2017 at each of his two outlets.

For insulting a public servant, Lim could have been fined up to S$5,000, jailed up to 12 months, or punished with both.

Related topics

disorderly behaviour police officer court fine chicken rice

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