Pedestrian jailed for punching 68-year-old e-scooter rider who lost sight in one eye

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
Mar 30, 2020

A packer accused an e-scooter rider of bumping into him before assaulting the man, who later lost his sight in one eye.

Lim Wee Ming, 46, was sentenced on Monday (March 30) to a year in jail and ordered to give the victim $5,258.46 as compensation.

The Singaporean had earlier pleaded guilty to one count each of harassment and voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Mr Goh Sung Beng, 68.

Mr Goh was riding his device in Choa Chu Kang Avenue 3 at around 11am on Dec 6, 2017 when he spotted Lim walking towards him from the opposite direction.

When they passed each other, Lim accused Mr Goh of bumping into him but the older man denied doing so.

Tempers flared and Lim verbally abused Mr Goh with vulgar language.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kang Jia Hui said: "The victim then raised his walking stick, which was hanging on his e-scooter, and swung it around without hitting the accused."

Lim then threw a punch at Mr Goh's left eye which caused it to bleed, said the DPP.

A person at the scene intervened and held Lim back to prevent him from further assaulting Mr Goh.

When Lim realised that Mr Goh was bleeding, he helped to wipe off the blood from the older man's face.

The police were notified and an ambulance took Mr Goh to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

A medical report dated Feb 7, 2018 stated that he suffered a left eye globe rupture.

DPP Kang had urged the court for Lim to give Mr Goh $7,258.46 in compensation.

Defence lawyer Josiah Zee, however, pleaded for a smaller amount, stressing that his client earns $1,900 a month.

Lim is now out on bail of $10,000 and will surrender himself at the State Courts on April 6 to begin serving his jail term.

For voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Mr Goh, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined or caned.