A 42-year-old Singapore permanent resident, who was caught tossing his cigarette butt into a roadside drain, ended up being convicted on Thursday, Sept. 12 of assaulting a public servant with the National Environment Agency.

Details of the case have been by Today.

What happened?

An NEA officer, Kenny Chee, caught the Singapore PR, Kappagantula Srikanth, littering outside a restaurant at Syed Alwi Road in the Jalan Besar area on March 31, 2017.

Chee is an auxiliary police officer with NEA.

Two other NEA officers were around at that time.

How did altercation start?

Chee identified himself as an NEA officer and approached Srikanth to ask for his particulars.

Srikanth told Chee he wanted to go back to the restaurant to get his bag.

Chee then went to help his colleague with another offender.

Chee noticed Srikanth coming out and repeatedly told him to stop.

Srikanth did not stop.

NEA officer tried to call police

Chee then stood in front of Srikanth and put his hand out as a signal to stop.

Srikanth continued walking and hit Chee’s palm.

Srikanth warned Chee not to touch him.

He pushed Chee three times on the chest with both hands.

Srikanth tried to walk away again.

Chee then grabbed him by the wrist and said he was going to call the police.

Srikanth tried to loosen Chee’s grip with force.

This gave Chee a cut on his wrist.

Chee then let Srikanth go, who then sat on a chair and said he would wait for the police to arrive.

But Srikanth tried to walk away again before Chee had a chance to call the police.

Chee then stood in front of Srikanth to prevent him from leaving.

Srikanth then choked Chee by holding his neck with his right hand.

Could not breathe

Chee's court statement said Srikanth strengthened his grip.

Chee said this caused him to feel pain and to be unable to breathe.

Chee explained that his Adam’s apple felt numb and "stuck" when he tried to swallow his saliva.

The other two officers testified in court that they also saw this happening.

One described Srikanth as appearing angry.

Defence

Srikanth contested two charges of causing hurt to the officer and using criminal force on him.

He claimed his height difference with Chee meant he would not have been able to choke Chee

He also said Chee attacked him first.

Srikanth also called a witness to back his version of events.

The trial lasted five days.

He will return to court to be sentenced on Nov 4 after the judge rejected his defence.

He remains out on bail of S$5,000.

Penalties

For causing hurt to deter a public servant from carrying out his duty, Srikanth could be jailed for up to seven years or fined or caned, or any combination of the three.

For using criminal force to deter a public servant from his duty, he could be jailed for up to four years or fined, or both.

Previously: