Elderly carpenter jailed over hacksaw road rage attack on motorcyclist
A carpenter was jailed for attacking a motorcyclist with a bladeless hacksaw in a road rage incident.
Sim Eng Koon, 71, was jailed for two weeks on Jan 28 after pleading guilty to one charge for voluntarily causing hurt.
On March 18 last year, Sim was a passenger in a lorry driven by his 66-year-old brother, also a carpenter.
They were driving along Telok Blangah Road at about 5.30pm when his brother suddenly cut into the lane of a motorcyclist without signalling.
The motorcycle, ridden by a man with his wife as pillion, swerved hard to the right and narrowly avoided a collision.
Both vehicles came to a stop with the motorcycle next to the lorry driver's side door.
Unhappy, the motorcyclist knocked on the lorry's window twice.
THROWN OFF
Sim's brother opened the door and hit the motorcycle, causing the motorcyclist to be thrown off.
A verbal dispute ensued, and Sim alighted from the lorry and retrieved a bladeless metal hacksaw measuring about 0.5m from the back and hit the motorcyclist on the wrist and shoulder with it.
The victim tried to defend himself by swinging his hands and hit Sim on the head. The dispute ended after the parties were separated. The police seized the hacksaw as an exhibit.
Both Sim and the victim were taken to hospital, and the victim was given four days of medical leave for his injuries on the wrist, shoulder and chest.
Sim suffered a cut on his face but was discharged without medical leave.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tay Jia En urged the court to jail Sim for two weeks, saying he was the aggressor and deliberately retrieved the weapon.
District Judge Ong Luan Tze agreed and jailed Sim. She also ordered that Sim pay compensation of $121 to the victim for his medical bills, or be jailed an additional day in default.
Sim's brother has been handed a similar charge, but his case is still before the courts.
For voluntarily causing hurt, Sim could have been jailed for up to three years, or fined up to $5,000, or both.
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