SINGAPORE: A 32-year-old man who assaulted Dr Tan Wu Meng, a Member of Parliament (MP) for Jurong GRC, was on Tuesday (Oct 23) sentenced to three months in jail.
Mohammad Ameen Mohamed Maideen assaulted Dr Tan in April at the ground floor of Block 334 Clementi Avenue 2, where a Meet-the-People session was being held.
AdvertisementAmeen was there to ask for help with a matrimonial issue, the court heard.
Video footage shown in court of the incident captured Ameen walking towards Dr Tan. Upon reaching the MP, Ameen grabs him in a chokehold and slams him against a wall, before yanking him to his knees.
A table in front of Dr Tan collapses, and he is seen getting up and being attended to.
The incident, which took place after 10pm, lasted about 30 seconds.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAccording to court documents, Ameen also punched and kicked the MP.
The court also heard that at the time of the incident, Ameen, who is unemployed, had trace amounts of drugs in his urine and that his drug history spans about six years.
A doctor from the Institute of Mental Health assessed that it was “conceivable that the accused’s behaviour was either due to the accused’s intoxication with amphetamine, or drug withdrawal symptoms”.
AMEEN HAD SOUGHT HELP THRICE PREVIOUSLY
The court heard that Ameen had sought help at Meet-the-People sessions thrice previously, for help with leniency on parking fines, traffic offences and financial and social aid, and a rental flat.
In asking for Ameen to be sentenced to three months in jail, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tang Shangjun said that he violated the “sanctuary” that the Meet-the-People session provides.
“Though the offence was likely to be a result of his use of narcotics, it does not mitigate the fact that a safe space for constituents to meet their MPs and volunteers was, in a matter of seconds, transformed into a scene of violence and fear, unnerving volunteers and constituents alike,” the prosecutor said.
Before sentencing him, District Judge Eddy Tham asked Ameen if he had reflected on what he had done, to which Ameen said no. The judge then asked him why he did what he did.
“I was under depression, Your Honour,” Ameen replied. The judge asked him whether he had done anything about it, to which Ameen said he has been staying at home “before I’m involved in other trouble”.
Judge Tham said staying at home was not the solution and advised him to seek constructive ways to overcome depression, and not to vent his anger and frustration on others.
A criminal trespass charge was taken into consideration.
For assaulting the MP, Ameen could have been jailed for up to two years and fined up to S$5,000.
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