SINGAPORE, June 11 — When police officers responded to a commotion between Muhammad Farhan Jaffri and his wife at a void deck, he turned violent.
Together with his twin brother, Muhammad Fiqkri Jaffri, they punched and kicked a policeman’s face and body, leaving him with a traumatic head injury.
After Farhan was escorted into a police car, he repeatedly kicked its rear window and it shattered.
Today, he was jailed for two years, nine months and four weeks, given three strokes of the cane and fined S$3,500 (RM10,882).
The 26-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to five charges that included voluntarily causing grievous hurt and hurt to a public servant, vandalism, and being a member of a secret society.
Four other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
His brother was also charged and his case is pending.
Farhan was an associate member of the Sio Kun Tong secret society from February 2014 to June last year. He was a part of the Triad Society since 2007 as well, the court heard.
What happened
On February 23 last year, Farhan, who was drunk, was arguing with his wife at the void deck of Block 655, Jurong West Street 74 at about 4am.
A member of the public lodged a police report and a group of four police officers went to the scene. They found Farhan’s wife crying and asked the couple if everything was alright.
Farhan responded defensively and questioned their intentions.
His brother then came down from a nearby staircase and approached them in an aggressive manner, pointing his finger in the officers’ faces and telling them to shut up.
He told his brother and wife to go up to his flat which they both did.
Within minutes, however, Farhan returned and shouted vulgarities at the officers, adding that he “did not like their faces”.
When his brother asked which police officer’s face he did not like, Farhan pointed at Sergeant Chong Jiawei.
The brothers then started punching Sergeant Chong — raining multiple blows on him while the other officers tried to restrain them.
A tussle then ensued between the police officers and the brothers.
An officer then struck Fikqri with her police baton and they managed to restrain him.
Two other police officers also arrived to help. Farhan was restrained and handcuffed but after the officers placed him in the police vehicle, he began yelling and used his head to knock against the rear window repeatedly.
He then kicked it three times, causing it to shatter.
Farhan made compensation of US$201 earlier this week for the costs of repairing the cracked window.
Sergeant Chong was taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a head concussion and abrasions.
A medical report stated that he had slumped to the ground and briefly lost consciousness due to the assault.
He was admitted to the neurosurgery ward for two days for further monitoring and was given 29 days of hospitalisation leave.
When he returned to work, he was deployed to an administrative role for a month before returning to the front line. The incident also caused him to worry about how his supervisors might perceive his abilities, the court heard.
Another officer whom Farhan assaulted was given four days of hospitalisation leave.
For causing grievous hurt to deter a public servant from his duty, Farhan could have been jailed for up to 10 years, and fined or caned. — TODAY
