SINGAPORE — A taxi driver with a history of traffic offences was handed a S$7,700 fine for smashing a beer mug over a stranger's head during a fight at a KTV lounge and for driving while drunk on a separate occasion.  

Lim Cheng Guan, a 46-year-old Singaporean, was given the fine on Wednesday (Feb 21) after pleading guilty to voluntarily causing hurt and drink-driving. 

He will also be disqualified from driving all classes of vehicles for three years. 

FIGHT AT KTV LOUNGE 

The 41-year old male victim was celebrating his birthday on June 9 last year with a few other friends at a KTV lounge housed in Lee Kai House Building. 

At around 3am, some of the man’s friends left the premises, leaving three other friends who became witnesses to an argument between the man and four other males, including Lim. 

The trouble started when the victim argued with a KTV hostess just before the lounge closed, over fees that the group had allegedly not paid. 

A bouncer at the lounge Andrew Sim Kheng Joo, 46, intervened and continued to argue with the victim, before the dispute escalated into a physical fight. 

During the scuffle, Lim smashed a beer mug on the victim’s head, which caused two cuts of around 3cm and 5cm near his eyebrows. 

The victim incurred S$143 in medical costs as a result. Court documents did not reveal why Lim became involved in the fight.

Sim and two other men David Wan Jie Xiang, 31, and Javier Lim Jia Ling, 45, allegedly kicked the victim’s lower body, hit him with a metal pole and used a broken beer bottle to hit the victim’s head.

The cases involving Sim and Wan are pending before the courts, while Javier Lim was fined S$500 over the same incident. 

DRINK-DRIVING 

About six months earlier, on Jan 10 last year, while celebrating his friend’s birthday at a pub along Maude Road in Jalan Besar, Lim drank about four bottles of beer. 

He kept drinking until around 11.40pm and stayed at the pub until after midnight before driving his taxi to the Braddell ComfortDelgro Depot to pump petrol.

On the way there, a driver sounded his horn after Lim strayed into his lane on the Central Expressway.

Lim waved his hand to apologise but the driver followed Lim to the ComfortDelgro Depot where he called the police, because he was concerned that the taxi driver was drunk.

The police officer who attended to the case spoke with Lim and noticed that he smelt strongly of alcohol, so a breathalyser test was done on Lim and he failed the test. 

Lim was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and escorted to Changi General Hospital for a blood test. 

A laboratory report revealed that Lim’s blood contained 162 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, more than double the prescribed limit of 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres. 

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Cheng You Duen told the court that Lim had committed other traffic-related offences such as careless driving, failing to obey a red light and speeding. 

In view of this, DPP Cheng asked that the punishment imposed be stricter and sought a total fine of between S$7,500 and S$8,200 for Lim’s two offences. 

He noted that the taxi driver had voluntarily made restitution to the victim for the fight at the KTV lounge. 

For the charge of voluntarily causing hurt, Lim could have been jailed for up to three years or been fined up to S$5,000, or both. 

Anyone driving while under the influence of alcohol can be jailed for up to 12 months or be fined at least S$2,000 and up to S$10,000 for a first conviction.