Jail, fine for ‘belligerent’ drunk man who headbutted police officer, damaged bar patron’s laptop

SINGAPORE — After drinking the entire afternoon, a man walked up to chat with another patron at a bar and all of a sudden, he began banging the patron's laptop on the table, insisting that the laptop was his. 

When police officers showed up after he took the laptop with him out of the bar, he headbutted one of the officers while resisting arrest.

Willy Frida D Burm, 56, was on Tuesday (Dec 13) sentenced to four weeks in jail and given a fine of S$2,500 over one count each of using criminal force and abusive language against a public servant. Three other related charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

The Belgian, a Singapore permanent resident, had been drinking a few glasses of wine at a bar at VivoCity mall in the Harbourfront area from 2.30pm on Jan 30, 2020, the court heard on Tuesday.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Sruthi Boppana said that he then went to Wala Wala Cafe Bar at Holland Village sometime after 6pm, where he had another five glasses of beer while watching a tennis match.

After Burm banged the laptop against the table, the patron, Mr Liu Liwei, and a bouncer at the bar tried to take the laptop away from him, but were unable to do so before he left the bar with it.

Mr Liu was too afraid to pursue Burm but the bouncer went after him. A physical altercation broke out between the bouncer and Burm, who was behaving aggressively, DPP Sruthi said.

At around 9pm, two police officers arrived and found a stumbling Burm, reeking of alcohol, near the Holland Village MRT Station.

They asked Burm to hand over the laptop but he refused and began shouting.

Instead, he held the laptop over his head then dropped it on the ground and picked it up again. The police officers then managed to grab the laptop from him.

As he continued to “behave belligerently”, one of the officers called for backup, DPP Sruthi said. A decision was made to arrest Burm but he resisted, so three of the officers had to pin him to the ground to handcuff him.

At about 10pm, they escorted him to the police car and asked him to get in it, but Burm refused. 

At this point, Burm headbutted one of the police officers, an act that one of several onlookers recorded on camera. 

Throughout the altercation, Burm refused to cooperate, tried to walk away and used various expletives and threats on one of the officers, DPP Sruthi said.

The laptop was cracked and the cost of repairs was S$117.70.

Burm later paid the amount to Mr Liu, whose age and occupation were not stated in court documents. 

DPP Sruthi described the acts as a “blatant disregard for authority” and argued that Burm being drunk when he committed the acts should not be a mitigating factor, since he had voluntarily chosen to binge-drink that night.

Burm’s lawyer, Ms Cheryl Sim from law firm Regent Law, said that her client was extremely remorseful and that the criminal proceedings have cast a “dark shadow over his life” for the past two years.

He has been having a hard time at home due to his acrimonious relationship with his now ex-wife, which has taken a toll on his emotional and mental well-being, she added.

She pointed out that Burm has had a clean record in the close to 20 years that he has been in Singapore and has “great respect” for the laws here.

“This is really a one-off incident and my client is looking forward to closing this chapter,” she said as she pleaded for leniency from the judge.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur, in her sentencing, noted that the police officer did not suffer any injuries after he was headbutted, but said that the harm that could potentially have been caused cannot be said to be trivial.

The judge allowed Burm to defer his sentence for two days after he asked to spend time with his daughter to celebrate her birthday on Wednesday. 

By using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty, he could have been jailed up to four years or fined, or both.

By using abusive language towards a public servant, he could have been fined up to S$5,000 or jailed up to 12 months, or both.