Club bouncer pleads guilty to driving into knife-wielding man three times in a bid to detain him

SINGAPORE — After witnessing a 22-year-old man slash two others and flee, a 25-year-old bouncer gave chase in his car and knocked the other man down three times in a bid to detain him.

On Monday (April 12), Aaron Chua Jun Hao pleaded guilty on Monday (April 12) to one charge of causing hurt by acting rashly.

Chua was chasing Shaun Koh Kim Guan, who was later arrested and accused of stabbing a two men, aged 32 and 33, with a foldable knife.

The incident took place at around 4am on July 25 in 2019. 

Court documents stated that Chua, who worked at a club called Mao, was drinking alone at Club Peaches in Concorde Shopping Mall along Orchard Road after work. There, he witnessed a dispute between Koh and two other men. 

Bouncers from Club Peaches escorted the trio out to Kramat Lane nearby.

Chua was not involved in the dispute but followed them out of the club. 

A fight then ensued with Koh pulling out a foldable knife to slash both the men. 

He then fled the scene in the direction of Cavenagh Road.

This prompted bouncers from Club Peaches and Club One Min, another club in the mall, who had witnessed the fight, to chase Koh. 

Chua decided to give chase as well by driving his rental car, which was parked along Kramat Lane.

As Koh was running across the road, Chua intercepted him and hit him from the back, causing him to fall. 

When Koh got up and tried to run away, Chua again drove his vehicle forward causing Koh to fall. This played out a third time. 

Bouncers from the two clubs, who were on pursuit by foot, then arrived and pinned Koh to the ground. 

Koh was then placed under arrest and treated at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Among other injuries, he suffered tenderness over his lower back area and was given five days of hospitalisation leave.

The prosecution is seeking a jail term of at least eight weeks and a driving ban of 12 months for Chua.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Emily Koh told the court that although Chua was driven by a sense of “vigilante justice”, there was some degree of premeditation in committing the act to detain Koh, which is an act that “cannot be condoned”. 

“His actions posed a high degree of danger,” DPP Koh said. 

Chua will be sentenced on April 30.