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Man jumped bail after breaking victim’s ribs in assault, used fake passport to flee to Thailand

SINGAPORE — A chemical engineer was charged with assaulting another man in 2017 over loan repayments, fracturing three of the victim’s ribs. He was then released on bail but absconded to Malaysia by hiding in a car.

The court heard that Marcus Yeo Zhen Wei obtained a forged Singapore passport after he had fled to Malaysia by hiding in a car.

The court heard that Marcus Yeo Zhen Wei obtained a forged Singapore passport after he had fled to Malaysia by hiding in a car.

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SINGAPORE — A chemical engineer was charged with assaulting another man in 2017 over loan repayments, fracturing three of the victim’s ribs. He was then released on bail but absconded to Malaysia by hiding in a car.

The offender then obtained a forged Singapore passport and went on to spend some time in Thailand. When he eventually tried to return to Singapore, he was picked up at the border by Malaysian authorities.

After serving one-and-a-half years behind bars in Malaysia for using the forged travel document, Marcus Yeo Zhen Wei, now aged 29, was extradited to Singapore and on Monday (March 30) was sentenced in a district court to another 10 months' jail.

Yeo pleaded guilty on Monday to two charges of causing grievous hurt and obstructing the course of justice. His sentence was backdated to Oct 4 last year, when he was sent back to Singapore and put in remand.

The court heard that in 2016, Yeo’s 49-year-old male victim had taken a loan from a man identified as Ng Wei Lun.

When the victim defaulted on his repayments, Ng — along with Yeo and another acquaintance — confronted him on Dec 8, 2017.

Court documents did not state where in Singapore the incident occurred. The victim was with a few friends at the time.

During the confrontation, one of the victim’s friends grew agitated and swung her hand at Yeo. The victim also tried to punch Yeo but missed.

In response, Yeo rained punches on the victim till he fell. His female friend tried to shield him with her body but Yeo attacked her too.

The victim’s other friends intervened, and Yeo then fled.

The man sustained three fractured ribs, along with other cuts and bruises.

He spent one month in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, while his friend was discharged on the day of the assault with bruises on her arm.

When Yeo was charged over this, he was released on court bail on July 20, 2018.

However, a warrant of arrest was issued against him after he failed to turn up for a court hearing on Aug 7 that year.

He had absconded the day before, having paid a Malaysian man S$500 to let him hide in a sedan and pass through the Singapore checkpoint undetected. He then managed to get the forged passport and travelled to Thailand.

Court documents did not reveal more details about his scheme.

About two months later, he contacted the Malaysian man again to arrange for his return to Singapore, but he was stopped at the Malaysian immigration checkpoint and subsequently sentenced to jail there.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chong Yonghui sought the sentence imposed, saying that while Yeo’s assault victims had lashed out first, he “responded in a disproportionate manner”.

The prosecutor also raised the case of Chew Eng Han, who was sentenced to one year’s jail for a similar obstruction of justice charge.

The former City Harvest Church leader had absconded from Singapore in a motorised sampan, a day before serving his jail sentence for his role in the largest case of misuse of charitable funds in Singapore's history.

DPP Chong sought four months’ jail for Yeo’s obstruction of justice charge, and another eight months for the assault.

In mitigation, Yeo’s lawyer K Rajendran, who asked for eight months’ jail, said that his client had turned himself in to the police when Ng was arrested.

The lawyer added that Yeo was the sole breadwinner of his family and that his wife, with whom he had a five-year-old son, does not work.

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