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Haidilao customer fined for smashing sauce bowl into another man’s face

SINGAPORE — Upset that a fellow customer at popular hotpot chain Haidilao had left his bowl on the condiments counter, Jason Esaias Gao Weijie smashed his own sauce bowl into the other man’s face.

The incident took place at Haidilao's Clarke Quay outlet.

The incident took place at Haidilao's Clarke Quay outlet.

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SINGAPORE — Upset that a fellow customer at popular hotpot chain Haidilao had left his bowl on the condiments counter, Jason Esaias Gao Weijie smashed his own sauce bowl into the other man’s face.

For his actions, the 34-year-old Singaporean was ordered to pay a S$4,000 fine in a district court on Thursday (Nov 14), after pleading guilty to one charge of causing hurt to Mr Eugene Lee, 33.

The court heard that both men were dining at the chain’s Clarke Quay outlet at about 3.30am on Jan 12.

Gao had gone there for supper with his friends, and was queueing behind Mr Lee at the condiments counter. The victim was eating from a bowl then.

When Mr Lee reached the front of the queue, he put the bowl on the counter while he filled his sauce container. This angered Gao as he felt that it was unhygienic of Mr Lee to do this.

When Gao told him to take the bowl away, he replied that he would do it after filling his container. Gao grew agitated and began arguing with him.

As Mr Lee finished what he was doing and turned to leave, holding both his sauce container and the bowl, Gao grabbed him by the neck from behind and smashed his own sauce bowl into Mr Lee’s face.

He then pushed Mr Lee and had to be pulled away by other customers. Closed-circuit television footage of the entire incident was played in court.

Mr Lee’s friend called the police saying: “A guy threw a bowl at my friend. Now he got a cut in between his eyes and bleeding.”

Mr Lee sought medical treatment at Changi General Hospital later that day and was given six days of medical leave. He suffered a 1.5cm-long cut over his nose.

Gao has since given him S$8,000 in compensation to cover his medical expenses.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Shana Poon said that she did not object to a high fine, and that Gao had committed unrelated traffic and property-related offences in the past.

Gao’s lawyer Raphael Louis asked for a smaller fine of S$3,000, saying that his client “made compensation at a very early stage” — the day after he was told how much Mr Lee’s medical fees were.

The amount Gao had paid in compensation was more than the S$2,420 that Mr Lee had spent on medical and related expenses, such as scar cream and scar treatment gel sheets, Mr Louis added.

For causing hurt, Gao could have been jailed for up to two years, fined up to S$5,000 or both.  

Related topics

court crime Haidilao Clarke Quay

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