S'porean man, 36, charged for biting man's ear during fight on PIE, flesh allegedly left on road

A Singaporean man has gone on trial for allegedly biting off part of another man's ear, and hitting the man's father, during an argument on the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE).

The victims were in a car driven by the father at the time of the incident, on Feb. 26, 2024.

According to the father, the son was bleeding after he was bitten, and they later found a piece of flesh from the middle of his ear on the road near a small drain, CNA reported.

The accused, 36-year-old Ronald Koh, a motorcyclist, pleaded not guilty and claimed that the pair had assaulted him instead.

Pulled over on road shoulder

On Feb. 10, the first day of the trial, the father, Quak Beng Gim, testified about what had happened.

He said he was switching lanes on the PIE when he saw Koh's motorcycle allegedly trying to cut into his lane.

Quak sounded his horn at Koh, who then repeatedly gestured with his hands to him, Quak said, as quoted by CNA.

Quak's son Fabian, who is in his 20s, was sitting in the front passenger seat at the time.

He wound down the car window and asked Koh what he wanted.

According to Quak, the two men appeared to start arguing, and Fabian was swearing at Koh.

Koh looked angry and signalled for him to stop his car, Quak said, and he pulled over along the road shoulder.

The altercation

Quak said he told his son to stay in the car, then got out and asked Koh what he wanted to do, Shin Min Daily News reported.

However, Fabian got worried and ran over, and was allegedly pushed to the ground by Koh.

Both father and son grabbed Koh, and Koh and Fabian ended up falling onto the grass by the road.

They started pushing each other, according to Quak.

When Quak ran over, his son told him that Koh had bit his ear, causing him to bleed profusely.

Quak said that he and his son initially grabbed Koh as he tried to run away, but eventually let him go.

Afterwards, Fabian found the piece of flesh from his ear, and wrapped it in tissue paper before heading to a hospital.

When they got home later, Quak's wife discovered a bruise on his torso. His foot was also swollen.

He told the court that when he saw Koh pushing his son, he grabbed Koh by the front.

He believed that in the chaos of the scuffle, Koh might have hit his back and stepped on his foot, he said.

Koh was ultimately charged with hitting Quak in the lower back and stepping on his left foot.

Questioning the evidence

As Koh's lawyers had discharged themselves, Koh cross-examined Quak at court himself, according to CNA.

Calling Quak's driving at the time "dangerous", Koh asked him, "Do you remember speeding up when you noticed my signal, and tailgating my motorcycle from behind?"

He also asked: "You made a four-lane cross to the left shoulder?"

Quak said "no" to both questions.

Koh also asked if Quak had an "uncivil intent" when he approached Koh, and Quak said he did not.

Koh argued that the video evidence submitted to the court was edited, and claimed he had not gestured to Quak to pull over.

"I did not ask you to stop," he said. "There's no way that a motorcyclist with two hands can ask you to stop."

He asked Quak why he had turned off his in-car camera when stepping out of the car, and Quak said that it turned off automatically when the engine was off.

Koh emphasised that he did not touch Quak at all.

"You punched me in the face, you tore off my visor and you ripped off my jacket together with your son," he said.

He added that at the time, Quak had apparently said, "No one is getting out of this alive."

But Quak denied saying this.

Denied biting intentionally

Asked by the judge about the flesh that was allegedly bitten off, Koh said to Quak that the father might have done so, but he could not have.

When asked more pointedly if he had bitten the ear off, Koh said he did not think that he was the one who bit the ear off intentionally.

According to him, he was "half-blind in the middle of the scuffle" as Quak was pushing and shoving him.

Koh claimed that his eyes were covered, and "appendages" were pushed into his mouth, and he bit down on everything unknowingly.

He believed that Fabian's ear might have been one of the things stuffed into his mouth.

"As if I could take note of everything while half-blind," he added. "I had no choice but to keep shoving them away and they keep taking turns to come at me."

The trial will continue on Feb. 11.

According to charge sheets seen by Mothership, Koh has also previously been charged for assault and harassment on four separate occasions in May 2023, December 2024, and January 2025.

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