SINGAPORE, Aug 25 — Fed up with an apparent scourge of drug activity in his Geylang neighbourhood, Roman Zenon Dawidowicz decided to take matters into his own hands.

One night in 2018, he came across a 70-year-old despatch rider and mistook him for a drug peddler. Dawidowicz then threatened to smash the older man’s face with three beer bottles before assaulting him.

The Polish man, then aged 32, also retrieved part of a metal bed frame from his home, threatened another passerby with it and swung it against a rubbish bin twice.

Today, he pleaded guilty to four charges of causing hurt, criminal intimidation and behaving in a disorderly manner in public. Two other similar charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing on Oct 9.

The court heard that the incident happened in the late hours of July 21, 2018.

The despatch rider had just finished eating at a restaurant at Lorong 24A Geylang and was about to leave on his motorcycle when Dawidowicz, holding three unopened beer bottles, approached him.

Dawidowicz demanded that the victim open his motorcycle storage box and threatened to smash his face with the bottles if he did not comply.

Punched and kicked him

When the victim did comply, Dawidowicz removed his personal belongings from the storage box and threw them onto the floor.

The victim asked Dawidowicz why he was doing this, and Dawidowicz responded by punching him once in the face, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground.

When the elderly man got up, Dawidowicz punched him on the shoulder, then kicked him after he fell down again.

Even though his hip hurt from the assault, the victim got up once more and hobbled towards the main road. Dawidowicz continued shouting at him.

The victim eventually found himself unable to stand again and "could only kneel in front of” Dawidowicz, who struck the top of the motorcycle helmet he was wearing.

The victim soon told a 21-year-old passerby what had happened. The younger man decided to confront Dawidowicz and they got into a dispute. The passerby eventually told Dawidowicz to leave the area.

Dawidowicz returned to his nearby home, retrieved part of his metal bed frame that measured 140cm by 6cm, and returned to the back lane, intending to confront the passerby.

By this time, at least six people had gathered around the elderly victim to help him.

They scattered after seeing Dawidowicz advancing towards them. The passerby shouted at him to put down the bed frame, but Dawidowicz continued approaching while shouting that he was "coming for him”.

He then violently swung the bed frame against a green rubbish bin near the back lane. Everyone fled while Dawidowicz continued pursuing the passerby down Lorong 24A.

Police officers eventually arrived at 11.10pm while Dawidowicz was still roaming around the vicinity with the bed frame.

His elderly victim was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital later that night. He had suffered a hip fracture from the fall and had to undergo total hip replacement surgery.

He was given 41 days of hospitalisation leave and could not continue working as a despatch rider.

‘I just had enough’

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chong Yong sought at least nine months’ jail, describing it as a "quite unusual case of violence”.

"(Dawidowicz) set out trying to weed out drug peddlers in Geylang, but unfortunately his brand of vigilante justice was misdirected,” the prosecutor said, noting that there was no evidence of the elderly victim being involved in drugs.

The bed frame was also "quite long, large and imposing” and no credit should be given to Dawidowicz for his supposed good intentions, DPP Chong added.

Defence lawyer Amarjit Singh Sidhu sought seven months’ jail instead, agreeing that it was a unique situation where his client honestly believed there were unlawful activities going on in the back lane.

Dawidowicz was given permission to address District Judge Prem Raj. He told the court that he and his wife moved to Geylang in 2017. 

He added: "Unfortunately, there were purveyors of certain substances in the corner. We spoke to our neighbours, neighbours who had children. We found needles, cough syrup bottles, all manners of things happening at the back and in front of our house. 

"On that particular day, I just had enough. Unfortunately, the Singapore Police Force was not doing anything. There are many reports that I’ve filed trying to get them to do something and nothing happened.”

Dawidowicz also apologised for his actions.

In response, DPP Chong said that he might have felt he needed to do something but that did not justify his actions. — TODAY