Trio found guilty of assaulting plainclothes cop
After a night of merrymaking in 2017, three friends at a club at St James Power Station assaulted a plainclothes policeman who was on duty at the time.
District Judge Salina Ishak convicted the 25-year-old offenders yesterday after a trial.
Coretta Leong Yin Teng, Lim Yang Horng and Marcus Goh Jun Fong were each found guilty of voluntarily causing hurt to Sergeant Tan You Chuen. Lim was also convicted of verbally abusing the officer with vulgar language.
The trio were at the Envy Dance Club in the wee hours of Nov 12, 2017, when a fight broke out on the dance floor. The trio and their friends then made their way to a table near the club's entrance.
The police were alerted and Sgt Tan arrived at the scene with his colleagues at around 4am.
During the trial, the policeman testified that he had initially suspected that the trio and their friends were the ones who were involved in the fight and asked them about it. He then told them to leave the club immediately if they were not involved in the brawl.
According to Sgt Tan, Lim then said: "Why should I leave the club?"
Sgt Tan replied that he was a police officer. He testified that as he was walking away, he heard somebody utter an expletive directed at the police.
He added that he turned around to ask the group what had been said and Lim responded by hurling vulgar words at him. A scuffle broke out soon after.
In his submissions, Deputy Public Prosecutor Houston Johannus said: "Lim throws the first punch at Sgt Tan. A struggle ensues between Sgt Tan and Lim."
Goh and Leong then joined the attack. Goh punched Sgt Tan's face at least once, while Leong forcefully grabbed the officer's neck.
The scuffle stopped when the club's bouncers and one of Sgt Tan's colleagues shone their torches at the offenders.
Leong and Lim had earlier claimed that they were unaware that Sgt Tan was a policeman. DPP Johannus disputed this by stating that Leong had seen the officer's police lanyard which had been "conspicuously hung" around his neck.
The trio were each offered bail of $5,000 yesterday and will be sentenced on April 22.
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