Ex-university student gets
short detention order for punching taxi driver over cab
fare
A drunk university student who punched a taxi driver in the head
several times over a $16.97 fare, leaving him bloodied from a deep
cut on his forehead, was sentenced to a short detention order of
two weeks on Monday.
In April last year, Zeng
Zhuangyong, 25, had alighted from cabby Poon Cher Ming's vehicle
after vomiting in it but tried to leave without paying. After the
short struggle that followed, Zeng straddled the 54-year-old as he
lay on the ground and punched him repeatedly while swearing at
him.
The short detention order is
one of the community sentencing options under the Criminal
Procedure Code, aimed at giving more flexibility to the courts. It
is less disruptive and stigmatising than jail.
Zeng, then a student at
Singapore Management University, pleaded guilty to hurting Mr Poon
along Lorong 4 Toa Payoh on April 28 last year.
