SINGAPORE - A Norwegian who has served more than half his
10-week jail term after admitting to choking a taxi driver, paid
the victim $30,000
and lost his job, has been given a chance to defend himself in a
retrial.
This comes after two Singaporean men came forward to say that the
cabby was actually the aggressor.
The High Court heard on Friday how Mr Mohamed Ayub Shaik Dawood and
his friend Roslan Zainal witnessed the altercation last September
at Circular Road.
When Mr Ayub read a newspaper report on the case, he was surprised
that 50-year-old Arne Corneliussen was jailed while 46-year-old
cabby Chan Chuan Heng, whom he saw throwing a punch, escaped
punishment.
He sought out Corneliussen's lawyer and he and his friend have
since filed affidavits on their account of what happened.
Corneliussen's lawyer, Mr Terence Seah, said his client had pleaded
guilty because he was too drunk to remember the details of the
fight and the police had eyewitness accounts that he had attacked
Mr Chan.
Given the "exceptional turn of events", the prosecution did not
object to Corneliussen's conviction and sentence being quashed and
the case sent back to the State Courts for a retrial.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Wong Kok Weng stressed that this did not
mean that the earlier conviction was wrong. He pointed out that the
two new witnesses were not at the scene when police arrived and did
not come forward during investigations.
Two passersby who had pulled Corneliussen away from Mr Chan told
police that they saw the Norwegian chasing the cabby and strangling
him, said the DPP.
But Mr Ayub said he saw Mr Chan punch Corneliussen on the left side
of his head, causing the latter to squat down in a daze.
When Corneliussen asked the cabby why he had hit him, Mr Chan tried
to run away. After a few short chases to and from the taxi,
Corneliussen caught up with Mr Chan and pinned him down, before
being pulled away.
Mr Roslan did not see the punch but heard a loud smacking sound,
after which he saw the cabby, arms akimbo, standing over
Corneliussen, who was squatting with his hands covering his
face.
