31Y/O Man Jailed & Fined for Assaulting 52Y/O Taxi Driver After Refusing to Pay Fare

Yes, the pandemic might have taken a toll on everyone’s physical and emotional health, but that doesn’t mean that we can lash out at anyone we like.

If that were the case, we would need more police officers on patrol and less safe distancing ambassadors.

And this time, not even taxi drivers are spared from the abuse. One found himself at the mercy of punches and kicks after a deliveryman and his girlfriend had refused to pay the taxi fare when they had arrived at their destination.

Man Punches Taxi Driver After Waking Him And His Girlfriend Up

On Tuesday (22 Jun), Vinod Raj was sentenced to two weeks’ jail and fined S$2,000 for his actions towards a 52-year-old taxi driver. According to The Straits Times, he had pleaded guilty to one count each of assault, harassment, and being a public nuisance.

The court heard that Vinod and his girlfriend had boarded the taxi in the morning on 2 September 2020.

He told the driver that they wanted to go to “Amber Glory Hotel” which was located “somewhere in Aljunied”. As the driver was not certain of the hotel’s location, he asked Vinod to guide him once they had reached Aljunied.

On the way to their destination, the couple fell asleep in the taxi.

The driver stopped at Lorong 52A Geylang and proceeded to wake the man up. However, Vinod was unhappy that he was roused from his sleep.

The two then got into a verbal dispute. Vinod told the driver that they were not at the correct location and the driver said that they had to pay extra if they wished to get to the hotel.

Yikes.

Vinod and his girlfriend then got out of the taxi and refused to pay. When the driver went to stop him, he punched the man in the face and continued to assault him. The taxi driver did not retaliate.

At that point, witnesses called the police at around 8:00am and Vinod was arrested shortly after officers arrived at the scene.

The cabby later went to Raffles Hospital for treatment and was found to have wounds on his left forearm, as well as a swollen left cheek.

Vinod is currently out on a bail of S$10,000 and must surrender himself at the State Courts on June 29 to begin serving his jail term.

For assaulting someone, he could have been jailed for up to two years and fined up to S$5,000.

Youth Punched Taxi Driver After Driver Refused to Drive Him to New Destination

Unfortunately, this isnt’t the first time someone decided to whack a poor taxi driver in the face.

A video, captured at Clarke Quay on 14 April at around 10:35pm, showed what appeared to be a 60-year-old taxi driver and a 20-something-year-old youth duking it out—Street Fighter–style.

The youth was seen running towards the uncle, screaming vulgarities and hitting the taxi driver in the face with his fist, knocking the poor man to the ground.

Turns out, it seems that the youth in the video changed his destination once he boarded the taxi. The taxi driver was unhappy with the destination change and refused to drive the young man.

He had already planned to end work for the day but only agreed to take on one last gig because he thought the youth wanted to go to a place that was in the same direction as he was.

When the young man changed his destination at last minute, the cabby decided to change his mind about driving the guy to where he wanted to go as well.

It seems likely that they got into an argument which led to the youth challenging the taxi driver to exit the car and duel him one-on-one.

Read the full story here.

Feature Image: joyfull / Shutterstock.com