Jail, fine for drunk man who verbally abused and kicked police officer

SINGAPORE — A 27-year-old Irish national was sentenced to four weeks' jail and a S$3,000 fine on Monday (July 9) for repeatedly hurling vulgarities at a police officer and kicking him in the police car.

The court heard that Colm Patrick Doherty, who was in Singapore on a social visit pass, got drunk with two friends on the evening of May 4 this year.

He had consumed several pints of beer in Clarke Quay over a few hours.

Around 3am, Doherty began shouting loudly and scuffled with one of his friends. At some point, he also removed his singlet and went topless.

His actions attracted the attention of a crowd of onlookers. Soon after, a security guard informed police officers patrolling the area about a fight.

When the officers arrived, they noticed that Doherty reeked of alcohol and was standing unsteadily. They decided to arrest him after he said he had no form of identification on him.

Another three officers, who were also patrolling Clarke Quay at the time, came to help their colleagues. Doherty struggled violently and it took "necessary force" to place him in handcuffs, Deputy Public Prosecutor Dillon Kok told the court.

After he was handcuffed, the officers escorted him to the police car. While walking there, Doherty shouted multiple obscenities at Assistant Superintendent Loh Lianhan.

In the police car, Doherty challenged a police full-time national serviceman — Sergeant Jeremy Ng — to a fight, and also tried to head-butt him.

Assistant Superintendent Loh then got into the driver's seat and was about to drive off when Doherty extended his right leg through the gap between the driver and front passenger seats and kicked the police officer's left shoulder.

Sergeant Ng had to hold on to him for the rest of the journey to the police station to prevent him from causing further trouble. Assistant Superintendent Loh was not injured.

In mitigation, Doherty's lawyer said his actions were "completely out of character", and that he was trying to contribute to society through his work in the Amazon rainforest.

For disorderly behaviour in public, Doherty could have been fined up to S$2,000 and/or jailed up to six months.

For verbally abusing a public servant in the execution of his duty, he could have been jailed up to 12 months and/or fined up to S$5,000.

For using criminal force on a public servant, he could have been jailed up to 4 years and/or fined.