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SINGAPORE: Drunk and upset with the waiter for asking him to turn down the volume of the music coming from his portable speaker, a bar patron pointed and threw a shot glass at the waiter, hurting his jaw.
On one count of willfully causing harm, 42-year-old Chin See Wai was sentenced to one week in jail on Monday (September 14).
Three more counts, including one count of hitting another woman with a shot glass, were being considered for sentencing.
The court heard that Chin was drinking with his friends in the early hours of February 29 at the Youngs Bar & Restaurant in Seletar.
When Chin pulled out a portable speaker and started blasting music, the 26-year-old waiter asked him to turn it down.
Chin ignored his request and the two got into a dispute, which Chin’s friends quickly broke up.
Later, when the waiter was serving customers at the table next to Chin’s, Chin suddenly grabbed a shot glass, stood up, and tossed it to the waiter, hitting his jaw.
The victim’s boss filed a police report and the waiter went to the hospital with a bruised jaw. He was placed on four days of outpatient medical leave.
Deputy Prosecutor Chng Luey Chi asked for 10 days in jail, saying the assault was “unprovoked” and followed a “minor dispute.”
Chin also used a “gun” shaped like a shot glass and was voluntarily intoxicated at the time, he said.
BC Lim & Lau lawyer Lim Biow Chuan asked for a small fine instead, saying that Chin had gone to the bar with friends to drink alcohol.
After the waiter approached Chin’s table to “complain that they were loud”, Chin felt the waiter was “complaining about him” as he served the next table.
NOT AS IF LOOKING FOR WEAPONS: DEFENSE
He “lost his temper and in a fleeting moment of anger, threw a small shot glass at the victim.”
The shot glass had been used to hold the alcohol that was served to Chin and his friends, and “it is not as if the defendant went to get a gun,” said Mr. Lim.
The injury caused was “very minor” and Chin has fully compensated the victim for his medical expenses. This is also her first brush with the law and the offense happened unexpectedly, Lim said.
In response, the prosecutor said that even though the shot glass was widely available in a bar setting, this does not “detract from the fact that it was used as a weapon.”
The judge said that while the defense had argued that it was a “momentary lapse of trial” on Chin’s part, Chin’s actions were enough to generate four charges involving three victims.
The fact that he used a glass object cannot be ignored, the judge said, adding that it was “fortuitous” that none of the victims suffered more serious injuries.
However, he noted the guilty plea, Chin’s restitution, and his clean record. She allowed him to begin serving his sentence next Friday (September 25).
For willfully causing harm, Chin could have been imprisoned for up to two years, fined up to S $ 5,000, or both.
