54 year-old Alan James Nairn, a sales and marketing executive who works in Jakarta, Indonesia, had flown into Singapore to renew his visa last year when he was told by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers that he could not land in Singapore. Outraged that he was denied entry, he took his chances when one of the auxiliary police officers was distracted and struggled to break free and punched one of 3 officers assigned to him.
He pleaded guilty in court to punching 34 year-old Certis Cisco officer Yogadevan Genasan today and was jailed 6 weeks, with his sentence back dated to the first day he appeared in court.
The court heard that Nairn had been working in Indonesia for some time and he was issued with a Singapore visa in Indonesia. He had been coming to Singapore regularly for many years, specifically to renew his visa as he had no other business here.
On his latest trip, he was told by ICA officers that he could not land in Singapore and was escorted out of the smoking room where he was held.
Mr Yogadevan held on to Nairn's left arm while his colleague held the right arm as they walked towards another holding room.
Along the way, Nairn complained of pain in his legs.
While waiting for the wheelchair to arrive, Mr Yogadevan's colleague released his grip on Nairn's right arm.
Nairn then started to struggle to break free from Mr Yogadevan, and used his right fist to punch him on the neck.
In his defence, Nairn's lawyer said that his client was simply outraged that he had been denied entry into Singapore when he had come into the country with no problems for the past few times.
Nairn had also demanded the court give an explanation as to why he was refused entry.
DPP Teo told District Judge Jasvender Kaur that the reason was the discretion of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, and not within the prosecution's purview.
Nairn could have been jailed for up to seven years and fined for causing hurt to a public servant in the discharge of his duty.
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